Shingeki no College
by swirls-and-curls-kun
Summary: Socially inept, Jean goes through college without dealing with anyone unless he absolutely has to. This year, he meets Marco; a friendly guy who helps him become a bit more approachable. Jean soon discovers there's more to Marco than his friendly disposition leads people to believe. Crazy nights, house parties, extreme dodgeball, and drunken make out sessions will ensue. Rated M.
1. A Nice Guy

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin. If I did, Marco would be alive and constantly be saved by Jean and they'd be together. However, the story belongs to Hajime Isayama. I am earning nothing in writing this apart from entertainment.

**This story is devoted to all Jean x Marco fans out there. We've been through so much and still have the heart to ship these two derps. You're all wonderful and you fill my life (aka my tumblr page) with goodness. With love, enjoy this first chapter, everyone.**

* * *

Shingeki no College

A Nice Guy

* * *

It was the first day of Junior year and Jean felt himself getting nervous. He didn't know why he was nervous, since he had been attending school here at Maria University for a whole two years prior to today, but he was.

Something about the first day just made him want to keel over and melt away.

By now, he figured he would have gotten used to this kind of thing. But no, for _three_ consecutive years he got nervous on the first day. It was lame, incredibly lame, and he knew it.

As he walked down the hallway of the science building, he wondered what the professors would do if he just went home. Probably nothing. After all, it was his money that'd be wasted if he didn't go to class.

He'd never hear the end of it if he skipped out and one of his parents caught him. God forbid they find out he did something like that…

Good old mom and dad are what made him wish this university had some dorms or something so he wouldn't have to deal with their never-ending nagging. Especially his mom's.

When he walked through the door to his earth science class, he was a bit relieved to see that it wasn't full. In fact, there were only a handful of students in the room.

Given his personality and anti-social nature, he quickly took one of the seats at the lab table all the way at the back of the classroom and pulled out his notebook. He was ready for class to begin.

The instructor was up at the front of the class scrolling away on her cell phone. It looked like she was reading something that interested her because of that gleam in her eyes.

Great. It was probably one of those teachers who cared more about what was going on outside of class rather than in it…

Jean sighed and looked at the clock on the wall up near the door.

His eyes widened when he realized class wouldn't begin for another fifteen minutes.

"_How the hell did I get here fifteen minutes early!?"_ he thought.

Well, he knew just what to do.

That snack machine he passed on his way inside the building was just calling his name. He had a few bucks to spare, considering he didn't have to pay any bills this month… apart from his phone bill, that is.

Leaving his booksack and notebook at his lab table, he got up and left out of the classroom.

…

If the freaking vending machine hadn't stolen two of his dollars, Jean would have made it back to class before the rush of students who were trying not to be late showed up. When he walked back into the classroom, with a small bag of fruit snacks, since the stupid vending machine kept saying it was out of everything else when it clearly wasn't, he saw that it was pretty much full now. The majority of the students seemed to have flocked towards the front of the class, oddly enough.

Thankfully no one had taken his seat.

In fact, the two seats to the left of his were unoccupied.

Go figure.

Of course, even when he wasn't around no one wanted to sit next to him.

As he walked down the rows, he noticed a few familiar faces in this class. Reiner, the big blonde guy in the front, and Bertholdt, the tall tan guy beside him, were two faces he rarely saw apart. It didn't surprise him that they were taking this class together. They were sitting beside that really short blonde girl who looked like she had a grudge against the world.

In the middle of the classroom was Ymir, sitting right beside Christa. Well, Christa's real name was Historia, but she got the teachers to call her Christa since they all asked the students what they preferred to be called. He only knew Ymir, and thus knew Christa, because Ymir was quite the hardass. She had a reputation around campus that said she wasn't to be fucked with, nor was the girl she was usually hanging around. And everyone heeded that unspoken order.

To his dismay, just before reaching his seat, he saw Eren Jaeger sitting in the row right in front of his own.

He and Eren did not get along.

That was the best way to describe the relationship they had without bringing up all the fights they'd had since they met last year. A total of 17, if one really had to know.

Beside Jaeger was his little companion, Armin Arlert. A studious and shockingly pretty guy who seemingly got along with everyone. How he and Jaeger were so close always astounded Jean.

If he recalled correctly, the two of them lived together with Mikasa. Though, he wasn't sure on the details. All three of them had lost their parents, at an early age. Well… Eren's father was alive, but he wasn't usually around. He was a doctor who traveled throughout the three walls of their kingdom, so it was basically like he wasn't there.

Beside Armin was Connie Springer. That kid was a dunce. The only thing he was good at was playing video games and throwing parties when his parents were out of town. Jean had never really hung out with him before, so he didn't want to say if he was a bad person or not, especially because Connie had been nice to him in the few times they'd run into each other. So he tried to be optimistic that maybe they could get along, if they needed to.

Without saying anything to Jaeger, Jean walked to his chair and took a seat. He made sure to fold his arms to give the impression that he didn't want to be fucked with today. It was specifically for Jaeger, in case he turned around.

Armin surprised him and was the first to turn and look at him. "Good morning, Jean." He said with a smile.

"Hey, Armin. Didn't realize you'd be in this class. Why aren't you in the advanced class?"

"Oh, you see, the advanced class was cut since it only consisted of a few students. It was to save money since… well, you know… Maria University isn't as privileged as Rose or Sina University."

"Hmm, that's unfortunate. Now you have to be stuck in a class with us idiots."

"I don't think of you all as idiots. You know that." The blonde boy responded sincerely.

"Just ignore him. He doesn't know anything besides how to be an ass." Jaeger said, looking over his shoulder with those annoying eyes of his.

Jean's eye twitched a few times as they stared each other down. This guy was _already_ itching to throw down, and it was just the first day of class!

Armin looked over to his friend. "Eren…"

"Where's your body guard, Jaeger? You _know_ she's the only reason you get out of our little scrapes with all your teeth." Jean said.

Eren turned completely around in his spinning chair. "Are you trying to start a fight? Because you _know_ you won't win."

Jean could see Armin gulp, and he knew this was about to get serious. He recognized the signs of a fight between him and Eren by Eren's two closest friends. Armin, for the pacifist he was, would usually gulp or put his hand on his forehead disapprovingly. When she was around, Mikasa would usually stare him down until he left Eren alone.

The fact that she wasn't around to interfere had Jean ready to put this guy through a wall.

"Sorry I'm late!" someone shouted as they hurried into the classroom.

Jean looked at the person and immediately wrote him off as a nobody. He didn't know who he was, and he didn't care to find out, either.

Jaeger was literally begging for an ass kicking, so this was more important.

Just before he got up to deal with the asshole in front of him, the boy who had come in late started walking back his way.

"Is this seat taken?" the kid, who he could now see had freckles, asked innocently.

"No, you can take it." Jean replied.

The boy smiled and did just that.

Before Jean could say anything else to Jaeger, the teacher abruptly stood up and put her phone into her pocket.

"It's nice to meet you all! I'm your Earth Science professor, Hanji, Zoe! You should have seen everything you need to know in the syllabus, and I'd like to skip over it, but I'm required to read it with you all."

Jean stared at Jaeger, who had turned back to the front of the class, and grinded his teeth together. He really wanted to deal with him, but this wasn't the time or the place. The last thing he wanted was to be kicked out of class on the first day for fighting.

So after calming himself down by exhaling deeply, he turned his attention to Professor Hanji, who had just finished blazing through the syllabus.

"I'm glad that's over! Any questions?"

No one said anything. Most people were in shock by how fast this woman could read.

"Well! Then let's not waste any time, shall we? I'll get right to the notes!" the brunette professor continued, and then hurried over to the dry erase board.

Jean took this opportunity to try opening his bag of fruit snacks.

An outburst from Connie, who was playing on his PS Vita thingy under the lab table, caused him to rip the bag clean open and all his treats to fall to the floor.

"Shit… I can't have anything…" he cursed under his breath, before picking each one up off the floor and putting them on the corner of his lab table.

The boy sitting beside him noticed this and smiled. "Hey, don't worry about those. I have some, so we can share." He said to him.

Jean's eyebrow's furrowed. "Why-"

The boy pulled out a bag that was twice the size of the one Jean had and put it on the table. "I bought mine at the bookstore. They're cheaper than the ones in the machines, and you get way more. You can have as many as you want."

"…Uh… thanks…"

This was awkward. Like, incredibly awkward.

"I'm Marco, by the way. Marco Bodt." The freckled guy continued.

"Jean. Jean Kirstein." Jean replied.

Reaching out, he took a few fruit snacks from the bag lying in between him and Marco and ate them, before he started taking down the notes that Professor Hanji was writing on the board.

Even though she was explaining what she was writing, she was going a bit fast and Jean found himself screwing up a few times.

His paper was now half-full and far from neat.

After about five minutes into his note taking, Marco turned to him with a hopeless expression on his face. "What is it?" he asked the boy.

"Can… can I please copy the notes from your notebook?"

Jean raised an eyebrow in confusion. But he was smart enough to quickly realize that _someone_ had either forgotten their glasses, or lost them, because he had seen him squinting a few times since Hanji started writing. "S-sure." He complied.

Scooting his chair over, Marco smiled. "Thank you so much! I forgot my glasses today because I was rushing to get to campus. I can see just fine without them, just so long as what I'm looking at isn't too far away haha."

"It's no problem." Jean replied, and then took more fruit snacks from Marco's bag.

His mother told him to cut back on treats, and he had tried to, but dang it, there was nothing else pleasurable he got out of coming to this low-budget university, so why not at least let his taste buds be happy?

Marco seemed much more concentrated on taking down the notes than he was about eating his own candy, but that was okay. In this moment, even though he hated to admit it, Jean was being somewhat social. He was getting friendly with someone… or… someone was getting friendly with him.

It's not that Jean had a bad personality or anything. Sure, he could be a bit disagreeable, but who wasn't from time to time? No, the thing that held him off from making friends was the recurring idea that he didn't fit in no matter where he went. And he knew that for a fact. Ever since grade school, he had trouble connecting with people. Jaeger was not the first person he'd fought with, nor would he be the last. It was just the way he was built, and he mostly blamed his father for it because he was the exact same way.

"What word is this?" Marco asked, and then pointed to it with his pen.

Jean could see that on the end, the boy had chewed away at it.

"That's 'petrology'. Sorry, I write my Rs and Ys funny…"

"No, it's okay. I don't have the best handwriting, either." The freckle-cheeked boy smiled, and slid his notebook closer to prove his point.

His handwriting was much more legible than Jean's was, that was for sure. It must have been hard for him to be all the way back here, where he couldn't see the board, and then have to take notes from pure chicken scratch…

For the few seconds that Professor Hanji erased the board to start writing again, Jean took note of Marco. Well, much closer note than he had before.

It felt like he had seen him somewhere before… maybe a long time ago. He wasn't sure. And so for now, he let it go and focused on other things about the boy.

Like, the way his face looked as he hurried to copy a few sentences from his notebook. It showed just how much effort this was for him.

At the end of class, he was still copying. So Jean decided to be nice. After all, this guy had done nothing but be friendly to him.

"You can take the notebook home with you. Just make sure to bring it back before class starts on Wednesday." He said.

Class was on a block schedule. This course was only a Monday and Wednesday course.

Marco's face lit up and his freckle-covered cheeks turned red. "Th-thank you! I'll bring it back before the end of the day!"

"Nah, you don't need to."

"But… don't you need this?"

"Nah, that notebook is for this class specifically. So you can just give it back before class Wednesday."

"Okay!"

And that was the last thing he heard from Marco before the boy got up and headed off to his next class with Jean's notebook tucked away in his booksack.

* * *

The rest of the day went by without incident. Earth Science was just an inevitable place where he had to deal with complete shit.

It actually wasn't even a part of his major, it was just required that he take it.

Annoying. That's what it was.

The university higher-ups said something along the lines of making the students "well-rounded individuals" by making them take classes that they'd never need in their field of study.

Jean was a communications major. Therefore, the class seemed pretty irrelevant to him.

Other people he had recognized in the class were also taking it as a required course in fulfilling their science credits.

Jaeger was an animation major, and went on non-stop about how he wanted to make video games. Connie was also an animation major. Armin was double majoring in history and statistics, that little genius... Reiner was here on a football scholarship, or so Jean had heard. And Bertholdt was here on a track scholarship. He was sure about that because he'd seen him at track practice on his way home last year.

Christa was a counseling major, if that's what it was called, unsurprisingly enough. Helping people and trying to make them feel better about their crappy situations seemed to be right up her alley. Then there was Ymir. She was undecided, but might as well have been a counseling major too, considering how many classes Jean had seen her taking with Christa.

There was a rumor going around that she and Christa were dating, and she encouraged it. Christa never discouraged the idea, so he assumed it was true.

As he thought about the people who were either dating, or high on everyone's _want to date_ list on his way home, he wondered exactly what was going on between Reiner and Bertholdt. Those two were always together. _Always_.

"_Probably fucking in secret or something."_ He thought.

Then there was Marco Bodt. The friendly, somewhat soft spoken, freckles having guy he met this morning.

After getting inside his empty house and heading to his room, he put his booksack down on the floor and took a seat at his desk.

Marco…

He wondered what kind of girl would date him. He wasn't the worst looking guy at the university and he had a decent personality... The kind of guy most girls probably wished he was.

If Jean was nicer to people, maybe he would go on more dates…

"_Marco… when was the last time you hit on a girl…? And what does a nice guy like you even say to get some digits?"_

After turning on the television and pulling off his shoes and socks, Jean laid down on his bed.

"What am I thinking about _Marco_ for?!" he asked himself, and then closed his eyes.

It was nap time.

* * *

**This story will also be hosted on ArchiveofOurOwn . org. This is important because it _could_ be taken down from here because of how mature it will be.**


	2. Freckles and Digits

Freckles and Digits

* * *

So Jean ended up napping until the next morning. So what?

It wasn't _that_ big a deal.

And at least he didn't have to deal with his parents and their constant nagging…

After taking a shower and changing his clothes, he slipped out of the house and got into his car. He'd woken up just in time to get to campus before classes began. Starting his car up, he pulled out of the driveway and took off down the road.

…

Bored out of his mind in his first class of the day, where the instructor was clearly unprepared for class, Jean navigated down his facebook home page on his cell phone. He had nothing else to do at the moment, anyway. And even after not logging in for about three weeks, he had two whole notifications. Two! Which were just people inviting him to play a stupid candy smash game he had no interest in playing.

Oddly enough, a few people that he _knew_ were in class at the moment were online. There was a status update from Connie talking about some video game party he was throwing this weekend. Mina apparently just found out this morning that her dad was buying her a new car. And Christa shared a picture of a tumblr post about puppies. Those were just a few of the frivolous stories on his home page.

_"Why do I still have this thing?"_ He asked himself.

One of the people he used to hang with in middle school made him make it, and he honestly never used it. Now, he was sitting here, seven years later, with no real reason for having this page.

Just as he was about to pass Christa's puppy post, he noticed in the comments, most of which were a cutesy back and forth between Christa and Hannah, there was one from Marco.

It puzzled him as to why he was interested in what he had to say about this. Moreover, he was a bit surprised that Marco knew Christa.

_this is so adorable. i shouldn't be posting on here in class haha_

_Posted 5 minutes ago_

Jean paused.

Marco, the seemingly studious kid, was posting on facebook in class? That definitely changed his opinion of him a bit.

_"Way to be normal."_ He thought with a smirk.

Now, he couldn't resist the urge to check out Marco's page.

The add friend button was up in the corner when it loaded, but he didn't click it. They had _just_ met yesterday. He didn't want to seem interested or anything. Plus, he was creeping. Marco would probably ask him how he'd found him, and he'd have no decent, rep-preserving answer for him.

Marco's interests were all over the place. His music varied from country to indie, and rock to pop with some hip hop, too. That last one didn't surprise him. After all, what modern, suburban child _wasn't_ listening to hip hop these days?

Interestingly enough, there were quite a few Japanese bands and artists listed as well. Utada Hikaru was high on the list, of course. Everybody loves Utada. Even Jean had to admit the woman could carry _five_ tunes in a bucket while walking a tightrope under a meteor shower.

"…"

That was a weird hypothetical description of her talent… but accurate. He'd listened to her many nights before falling asleep.

A smile found its way to Jean's lips when he moved on to movies and saw that in the number one spot on the list was Princess Mononoke. A Miyazaki film. He enjoyed them quite a lot. The fact that Marco had it on his page said he was an okay guy. Just okay. And he hadn't gone for the obvious Studio Ghibli film choice, Spirited Away. Not that it wasn't amazing or anything, it's just so good it's hard to find people who _don't_ like it.

Next were the photos. Yeah, he was being a major creeper now. But that was okay 'cuz nobody would ever know about this but him.

Most of the pictures Marco was tagged in were either in class or on campus with people like Dazz, Christa, one of Armin passing by in the background and waving, and a few other faces Jean did not recognize. He only had two profile pictures. One dated back a few years ago when he was in high school, and the current one was from two months ago, over the summer. It was of him out on an open field of grass. Must've been out in the country, because Jean didn't recall any areas in the city that were that vast and empty.

One picture that he saw on Marco's page was a class photo from when he was a kid. He'd been tagged by someone he evidently went to elementary school with.

And that's when he finally remembered where he recognized him from.

Marco.

Marco Bodt.

The two of them had gone to the same elementary school.

And what he recalled about that smiling, freckle-faced new kid was the many tears that usually streamed down his cheeks that were flushed from embarrassment.

Kids are mean, nasty little monsters. They are creatures who would gang up on anyone who was different, and that's because they are unrefined members of society. Grown-ups do it too, just not as often, blatantly, or callously as children do.

Those freckles sprawled across Marco's face were what he had more often than not been teased about. He was the only one at their school who happened to have them, and it was so unusual that he quickly became the center of everyone's attention.

Jean quickly logged out of facebook when he recalled the time he'd seen Marco sitting in class during recess while he had been on his way outside from the bathroom. He'd been sitting in class, eating his lunch, and holding back his tears as best he could.

Thinking about that made Jean feel incredibly guilty. No, he had never teased Marco for having freckles, but he never stood up for him when he saw it happening.

It pained him now that he thought about it.

And he wondered how that shy, timid kid, who was always crying and hiding from everyone, could be so friendly and open now that he was older.

He couldn't really figure out what Marco must have gone through between elementary school and college to have such a confident and friendly disposition now. But he imagined that maybe it was just that. College. Growing up and being an adult. Most people at this age didn't care about anybody else's appearance to the point of teasing them. Everyone here seemed far past that. And at this point in people's lives, they're usually comfortable in their own skin and have come to accept their faults, if not love them.

If nothing else, Jean was glad that he had seen such a beaming guy yesterday and not a guy with endless tears running down his cheeks.

The instructor finally broke down from her lack of preparation and decided to let everyone go about ten minutes early, and Jean was the first to leave the class. Now he was kind of hoping the day would go by and tomorrow would come. Just to see that smile again…

To relieve some of the guilt he felt about never sticking up for Marco, of course.

* * *

It had been a long day at school for Jean. He hadn't run into anyone he recognized. Not Connie or Sasha, not Armin or Mikasa, not Marco, not even Jaeger.

Lying in his bed with his hands connected behind his head and staring out his sunroof window up at the night sky, he shook his leg while trying to falling asleep. Yes, his room had a sunroof in it. It was a mistake the construction team had made when building this house. Instead of just one in the master bathroom, they somehow ended up putting one in his room as well. But it was okay. This was always something he enjoyed about living here.

Since his light was off, he had a nice view of the stars twinkling up in the sky. And he couldn't help but think of Marco's face as he stared at them. They reminded him of the many freckles that graced those tan cheeks.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" he asked himself.

Jeez, lately this guy had been on his mind more than even Mikasa had been. Speaking of Mikasa, he had yet to see her this semester. But they had only been through two days so far. Surely he'd run into her sometime soon, and he would muster up the courage to ask her out again.

She turned him down every time, but he was persistent. She was beautiful, smart, attractive, and was of a different race than everyone else. She was such an intoxicating girl.

He wondered how running his hands through that unique black hair of hers would feel…

Reaching down, he unbuttoned his pants and stuck his hand into his boxer shorts, then closed his eyes as he felt himself already dripping from the thought of her moaning beneath him.

This was going to be his year, he was sure of it.

* * *

Wednesday morning.

Jean pulled into the school parking lot and took a minute to find a decent parking space in the crowd of cars, some of which were parked horrendously. Someone had cut him off for one that was close to the building, so after flipping them off, he took one of the spaces that was a bit further from the building.

To his surprise, he saw Marco coming over from the bus stop across the street.

"Marco!" he called after getting out of his car. He cleared his throat after he realized that he'd just yelled, and also because his voice cracked a bit.

Said boy noticed him and smiled, "Oh, good morning, Jean!" he greeted as he hurried over to Jean's car.

"You catch the bus to campus?" Jean asked as he locked his door with his keypad.

"Mhmm. It's no biggie, really. The ride is nice, plus I have my music." Marco replied and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Jean felt himself growing warm all over as he recalled his little creep session on Marco's facebook page yesterday.

"Are you okay, Jean?"

"Huh? Oh… I'm fine. Just feeling weird. Must've been something I ate… I… uh… I have to shit."

"Haha, well don't waste time. Class starts soon! Let me get your notebook for you so you can get to your poop."

Jean watched as Marco knelt down in front of him and pulled his booksack off his back, then got his notebook out of it, "Thanks." He said when it was given to him.

"No, thank you. I'd be lost without your notes."

That smile found its way back to the boy's face. Jean swallowed a mouthful of saliva and felt his palms growing a bit sweaty. He felt so guilty about how things were for this kid in elementary school.

"Jean, you're acting weird, hah."

"I'm not. You haven't seen weird, trust me."

"Well let's get to class. Oh! I'm sorry… You have things you want to do before you go. It was rude of me to tell you to come with me."

"No, I'm fine going now. Don't sweat it."

"Okay."

* * *

Jean stopped at the door to their class and let Marco go in first. And he wondered why he did.

Something about being nice to this guy, and something about that smile he was rewarded with, it really made it worth doing.

Jaeger, Armin, nor Connie was in class. But it was pretty early. The classroom was kind of empty, apart from the early birds who wanted first and second row seats.

Jean took his usual seat and turned to Marco when he sat down beside him, "You're not going to sit in the front?"

Marco smiled, and the sun chose that moment to shine into the classroom through the blinds. "No, I brought my glasses today." He said, and pulled them out of his booksack.

"Oh." The moment he said that, a rumbling in his stomach made Jean stand straight up. "I have to go… uh…"

"That's right! You should've just gone to the bathroom instead of walking with me!" Marco whispered.

"I'll be back."

And with that said, Jean left the classroom in search of the bathroom.

* * *

When Armin and Eren entered the classroom, Marco smiled at them. He'd known Armin since freshman year, and thus, he knew Eren. Marco and Armin had been two of the top ranking freshmen who had entered this university, thanks to their SAT scores. Mikasa was up there with them too.

As juniors, those standardized test scores meant nothing to them now. Now it was all about who could get the highest GPA. Armin had him beat by .08 percent, but he was not willing to give up just yet. There were still four more semesters of college to get through.

"Good morning, Marco." Armin greeted as he took a seat in front of said boy.

"Hi Armin." Marco replied.

"I see you remembered your glasses. That's good."

"Yeah, it was tough last class. But kind of worth it."

Eren sat down beside Armin and turned to face Marco. "Taking notes from Jean must've been like nails on a chalk board sounds." He said.

"No, it wasn't bad. And I'm glad he let me use his notebook."

Armin put his hand on his chin in thought. "Marco, is this your first time meeting Jean?" he asked.

Said boy nodded. "Yeah."

"I can't believe that... We saw Jean all the time over the last two years."

Eren decided to speak on the matter, "Well Armin, Marco doesn't hang out with us, and Jean isn't social or likable, so of course they wouldn't know each other." He said. Turning to Marco, he spoke to him with a look of amazement on his face, "Marco, I'm surprised you can stomach sitting next to Jean."

"Eren… that's saying too much..." The freckle-cheeked boy replied.

"Where is he, anyway?" Armin asked. "His booksack and notebook are here, but he's not. Is he getting snacks or something?"

"No, he… saw someone he knew and went to talk to them." Marco lied. He could already tell Eren finding out about Jean taking a poop in the bathroom wouldn't be good for any of them.

"Someone he knew? Maybe it's Mikasa." Eren grinned.

Marco raised an eyebrow. "Jean knows Mikasa?"

"Knows her? Hah, that idiot asks her out almost every other week."

Armin sighed. "He's very determined. But she doesn't want to go out with him."

It was after that statement that Jean came back into the classroom. He walked past Eren, and stepped over his foot as he stuck it into the aisle to try tripping him, then took his seat beside Marco again.

"So you saw Mikasa, huh?" Eren asked.

"The fuck are you talking about, Jaeger?"

Marco bumped legs with him, and Jean looked over to him. Under their lab table, he was holding his thumb up at him.

Smart enough to realize what was going on, Jean rolled his eyes. Not at Marco, though. He was obviously covering for him. He rolled his eyes because now he had to lie about meeting Mikasa.

Or maybe not.

"It's none of your business." He told Eren dismissively.

"She'll _never_ go out with you, you know."

"Shut your dick hole, Jaeger."

"You're the dick sucker, Kirstein!"

"What was that?!"

"Guys, please not today…" Armin interjected.

Jean was about to get up, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. It was Marco.

"Calm down, Jean. Please."

For a split second, he felt like punching Marco in the face for trying to stop him from kicking Jaeger's ass. But that feeling quickly subsided when he recalled what he remembered about him yesterday. Plus, he was so damn innocent. Who could think of hurting this guy?

The tension in their section of the room was cut when Connie entered with his music blarring through his headphones. Not the ear buds, the big ones that most people wear at their computer but somehow they're expensive, stylish, and popular now.

"Morning fellas." Connie said as he took a seat beside Armin.

"Good morning, Connie." Armin smiled.

"Yo." Eren said.

"You shouldn't have your music so loud. That's bad for your ears." Marco greeted.

"Thanks, mom." the short boy said jokingly.

"Hey." Jean added. He didn't know why, but he felt bad being the only one to not say anything.

"Oi, you guys coming to my gaming party this weekend? It'll be a few hours after dodgeball on Friday."

"You know I am. Gotta get in on that Halo and Call of Duty." Eren said with a grin.

Connie stared Armin down. "I guess I can go." The blonde boy said.

"You better! Surprisingly, you're one of the best players we got!" Turning from Armin, Connie looked at Marco "Are you coming?" he asked him.

"Me? Well…"

"Learn to live a little! If you study all day long, you're gonna turn into a book!"

Marco smiled. "Would that be so bad?"

"Yes, cuz nobody reads anymore."

"I disagree, but-"

"You need to come, man."

Jean's eyes were glued on Marco, who was blushing from all the attention being directed towards him. Jean hadn't been invited, so this exchange wasn't really important to him-

"Bring Jean, too. I haven't had the chance to see what he's got." Connie said.

Well, that made it official, now didn't it?

"Any girls coming to this party?" Eren asked. "Besides Mikasa, of course."

Jean was all ears now.

"I may get Hannah and Sasha to come." Connie replied.

"Sasha will come if there's food."

"I think Franz is taking Hannah out this weekend. She was posting something about it yesterday." Armin added.

While Eren continued to speculate about what girls would come to a video game party and Connie encouraged him with suggestions, Jean turned to Marco, "You really going to go?" he asked.

"I might as well. I do go to dodgeball, and Connie will be there, so he'll probably be expecting me to show up for his party." Marco said.

"Well, I guess I can go with you… Do you have a ride?"

"Um… well the bus runs from school through the neighborhood Connie lives in, so yeah I do…"

"That's lame. You need a car, Marco. How are you gonna pick up chicks with no wheels?" Jean asked. He was subtly trying to get into Marco's business because he was still curious about how someone like him got with girls.

"Chicks? Um… well-"

"Good morning, class! Are you ready for another round of notes?" Professor Hanji energetically greeted as she entered the classroom.

She was met with a few groans and sighs, making her shake her head disapprovingly and then start ranting about how unappreciated education was among today's youth. Even though she didn't look much older than anyone in the room…

Jean turned from staring at her and wondering where she got her enthusiasm and energy from this so early in the morning to Marco, whose cheeks were a bit flushed.

Marco smiled. "I can take the bus. It'll be fine."

"No, it's not. I'll give you a ride. It's one night, so don't worry about gas or anything."

"Jean, you don't have to-"

"It's over. I'm giving you a ride. Where do you live?"

Marco's dark brown eyes moved down to his notebook. "Out in the country."

"What's your address, genius?"

"…Jean, my house is kind of far out. Why don't you just pick me up from dodgeball? They'll be starting it for the semester this Friday."

Fridays were off days for Maria University. Thanks to budget cuts, many of the courses offered on that day were cancelled, thus blessing most of the teachers and students with a three-day weekend.

"Okay, where's dodgeball?" Jean asked.

"We play on the old tennis courts. You know where they are, right?"

"Yeah. What time is it over?"

"Three o'clock."

"I'll be there waiting for you. Be looking for my car."

If Jean was going to go to this party, he was gonna bring his A-Game. Helping Marco, who he failed to help in the past, was a nice bonus. Now was as good a time as any to make up for all the times he'd seen this guy crying where he didn't do anything to help him.

Though, he didn't seem to _want_ any help at the moment… Why had he been so insistent on taking the bus?

…

Towards the end of class, Professor Hanji asked a question from the notes that she'd given on Monday. Knowing in his heart that she'd go for him, Jean flipped through his previous notes, where he saw some of his spelling mistakes corrected and his lowercase I's dotted.

Turning, he stared at Marco, who was also flipping through his notes that he had copied from him.

When, to his surprise, Professor Hanji called on someone on the other side of the classroom, Jean quietly got Marco's attention. "Psst."

"What is it?" Marco asked.

"Did you do this spell check to my notes?"

"Oh, yeah! I'm sorry!" the freckled boy whispered.

"…It's fine. Just… don't be so obnoxious about it…"

"Right. I won't do it again."

With her question successfully answered, Professor Hanji solemnly let the class go, saying what a shame it was that class only lasted for 95 minutes.

Jean put his things away and turned to Marco, who was now in the middle of a conversation with Armin. Not really knowing what he wanted to say to Marco, and not wanting to interrupt his conversation, he quietly stood up and decided to leave the room.

Just as he got out of the building, he heard Marco calling his name.

"Marco?" he asked, and turned with his booksack only draped over one of his shoulders.

"Jean, I meant to ask you!" the obsidian-haired boy shouted as hurried out of the building after Jean.

"Ask me what?"

"Can I… Can I have your phone number? Since we're… you know… going to this party and all, I want to keep in touch with you."

"I doubt it'll be so crowded that we get lost from each other. Connie's house is pretty big." Jean said.

"I know, but who knows? I'd just like to have it. We're friends now, aren't we? Plus, we may need to study together sometime."

The innocent look on Marco's face and the pink tint his cheeks and ears had made Jean give in. "Okay, give me your number and I'll send you a text."

"Alright."

After Jean sent the text message, Marco smiled and then sent him on his way with a pat on the shoulders, wishing him a pleasant rest of the day.

…

Just as he entered his next class, Jean felt his cell phone vibrate in his pocket. He quickly took a seat near the back of the class, his favorite area of the room to sit, and pulled it out to read the message he'd gotten.

Marco Bodt:

_thanks for your number. ill see u friday. oh, and by the way, i dont date chicks._

Jean's eyes widened. He held his phone in his hands and tried to think of how to respond to that. Before he could come up with anything, he got another message.

_theyre birds after all :P_

After shaking his head, Jean closed Marco's message and prepared himself for class.

At the end of his school day when he was getting into his car, something hit him.

"Wait a minute… Marco… did you… did you work your game on _me_ to get _my_ number…?" he asked aloud.


	3. We're Friends

**Good gosh, chapter 50 of the manga was just so... it was just wow.**

**Anyway, enjoy the latest chapter in _this_ story everyone.**

We're Friends

* * *

Friday morning.

Jean slowly opened his eyes and looked through his sunroof to see that the sun had just found its way into the sky. Looking over to his clock, he could see it was eight.

"Shit…" he cursed, and then tossed his sheets back.

During school, Fridays were the only time Jean got to sleep late. However, something about today was different. There was a party going on later this evening.

But it was _later this evening_. Was he really so excited about the likelihood of Mikasa being there that he woke up this early?

Pulling his phone from under his pillow, he saw that he had a text from Marco:

_Morning Jean. I'm still okay taking the bus if you don't want to go with me._

So, on Fridays he could use capital letters in his messages?

After hitting the reply button on his screen, Jean decided to send a quick response:

_I'm taking you stop trying to get out of it_

Once it had sent, he tossed his phone onto his pillow and got up. He needed to shower and decide what he was going to wear. He didn't often get invited anywhere, so this was reasonably new to him. Then again, it was _just_ a video game party. There was no need to go too dressed up and seem weird.

* * *

"Good morning, Jean."

"Hey mom." Said man replied as he stepped out of the bathroom. He was carrying his towel, pajamas, and toothbrush under his arm.

"Are you going somewhere today?" his mother asked, noting his unusual Friday attire.

"Yeah. I'll be back soon, though."

"Make sure to clean your bathroom. Guests come here and use that one, and it's always a mess. And they _always_ come when you haven't cleaned."

Jean rolled his eyes. "Right."

"Oh, and take out the garbage and take the dog for a walk, too."

"Okay."

Quickly, Jean went into his room and closed his door.

"Oh, and Jean, don't forget to-"

"I can't stay here all morning, mom! I'll do what you told me, then finish everything else later!"

"Jean, don't raise your voice!"

Said man scratched his head and tossed everything he was holding under his arm onto his bed. His phone vibrated.

Marco had texted him:

_I'm not._

_You better not. I'm not going if you're not_ he replied.

_We don't have to stay long if u don't want to._

_To kick Jaeger's ass at everything, I'll stay all night if I have to_

_Lol_

_What time does dodgeball start?_

_One o'clock._

_I'll be there early_

_Okay. U could play if u want. It's open to everyone._

_Nah, I'll pass_

_Are u scared? lol_

_Not scared, just don't wanna play_

_Alrighty. I'll see u soon, then._

Jean put his phone into his pocket and then decided to get some of his annoying chores out of the way. God forbid he not do them and then come home late. His mother would have a hissy fit, and his father would just sit there reading his newspaper.

"Fuck me…" he mumbled, before leaving his room.

* * *

2:43 pm.

With an irritated expression on his face, Jean drove around the university campus in search of the old tennis courts. He told Marco he knew where they were, but now he wasn't so sure anymore.

After pulling over to one of the empty parking lots, he pulled out his phone and called Marco.

"Shit… he probably won't answer…" he said after realizing he was probably in-game without his phone on his person.

"_Hello?"_

"Marco?"

"_Polo."_

"Funny. Listen, Marco, I have a question for you."

"_Shoot."_

Jean was glad they were on the phone so the unbelievable redness of his cheeks was hidden from the world. "Yeah, where are the tennis courts? I've driven all around, but I can't find them."

"_Oh, just go down the main road in front of the university, then make the first right. Keep straight down and you'll reach them."_

"Right. Thanks."

"_No problemo."_

"You're Hispanic now, Marco? You could totally pass for one, you know."

"_What? No, I'm not."_ he heard the boy laugh after he said that.

"So what are you doing answering your phone, anyway? Aren't you playing dodgeball?"

"_Oh, I got out. I was holding my own for a while, but then Erwin stepped in and Levi and his friends came. We were no match for them."_

Jean shook his head. While he didn't even realize it, he was smiling. Smiling because deep down, he felt like this was nice. It was nice having a friend, or something close to it. He hadn't really joked nor done anything similar to this with anyone in a long time.

"I see the tennis courts." He said as he drove down the street Marco had told him to go down.

When he pulled up into one of the parking spaces, he almost dropped his phone from what he was seeing.

Marco noticed him and smiled and waved. "Heeeey!" he shouted.

After turning his car off, Jean opened his door, stood up, and then leaned forward on it to watch his fellow students, and teachers, in Erwin, Levi, and his friends' case, playing dodgeball.

But what was so different about it was the _equipment_ they were using.

It was like some old gear they were all wearing around their waists that allowed them to achieve flight for seconds on end. And none of the people playing were even in the courts. They were all flying around in the air off near some of the old school buildings.

Marco stepped off of the tennis court and walked over to Jean. "You're pretty early."

"I said I was coming early, right?"

"Oh, yeah, haha."

"What's that around your waist?"

After looking down, Marco smiled. "It was Erwin's idea. He came across some old Maneuver Gear that his father used to have, so he decided to use it for _EXTREME_ dodgeball."

"That's crazy…"

"It's _EXTREME_ dodgeball, Jean."

Jean shook his head and looked around the court at the other people standing around and watching, who were also wearing this Gear. "Are they out? Why are they standing on the court?" he asked.

"The court is home base. We wait here until someone catches a ball, then whoever is next in line goes in to help them. All this came along this year when Erwin decided to use this Maneuver Gear to play."

As he looked around at the people waiting, Jean noticed Sasha Blause, Armin, and Connie all standing and waiting as well.

"Hey look! It's Jean!" Connie shouted.

Everyone turned and then looked at him. Marco took him by the arm and walked him onto the court.

"You came to play? You're a little late…" the shortest of the group said.

"I didn't come here to play, Connie." Jean replied. "I came to pick Marco up for your party."

"Eren! Look out!" Mikasa's voice echoed from atop of one of the buildings.

A ball flew past her while she was distracted, and she whipped around to see Ymir using her Maneuver Gear to get away. Jean's eyes were glued to her as she sent her anchor out and caught hold of another building, then flew off after Ymir.

"… Jean… Earth to Jean." Marco's voice came in his ear.

"Huh?! W-what…?"

"We can probably go. The game's about to be over and none of us are going to get caught in. It's only the best out there now."

Jaeger was considered one of the best? That was a shock.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"I'll see you two at my place." Connie said.

"Be careful not to run into any potholes!" Sasha called out to them after Marco had shed his gear and he and Jean were over at Jean's car.

"I won't run into any potholes." Jean said. He waved, then unlocked the doors to his car and got inside. Marco opened the door and got in on the passenger's side.

When the two of them were on the road, with the radio playing low in the background, Jean noticed something.

"Hey, were you going to change your clothes or take a shower or anything?" he asked.

"Well, I had planned on it… but now I'm being forcibly taken by you, so I can't."

"Do you want me to drive out to your place. We still have an hour or so until the party starts."

"Nah, I-"

"I can do it. Gas isn't an issue."

"Jean… it's fine. I mean it." Marco said, now looking him in the eyes.

Jean turned his attention back to the road before speaking again, "How about I take you to my place and you can shower there? You can borrow some of my clothes since we seem like the same size."

"That sounds fine. Thanks."

Whatever it was Marco didn't want Jean to know about, he'd find out tonight for sure when he dropped him off. It was like he didn't have a house or something.

* * *

With the radio still playing quietly, he said nothing else to Marco for the rest of their trip to his house.

Slipping inside his house to find his parents gone was like a breath of fresh air for Jean. He walked back outside and got Marco, then brought him into his house.

When they got to his room, he walked over to his closet and then went through the same process he had earlier for himself. It was difficult to find something that looked nice, but was also casual at the same time. He wasn't one to go out often, so he usually just dressed in a t-shirt and some random shorts. Whatever was clean.

Once he found something he thought would look good on Marco, he handed it to him.

The shirt he picked was light green with a white collar, white on the ends of the sleeves, and the logo of a computer company on it. The shorts were khaki cargo and a little worn, but still nice. The hems on them were frayed, but that made them look cool to wear.

"The bathroom is right across the hall and there are clean towels in the cabinet in there." He said.

"Thanks."

And with that, Marco walked out of the room.

When he heard the water in the shower come on, Jean took a seat on his bed and pulled out his phone. He then saw that he had a new message:

_Hey this is Connie. If u have an extra XBOX controller feel free to bring it. I got ur number from Marco btw_

"…Way to force me into making friends…" he mumbled, even though he knew Marco couldn't hear him over the running water in the shower.

_Yeah, I'll bring one._ He replied

_Cool. And thanks for bringing Marco. I know he doesn't have much fun out where he lives, so I wanted him to come. And I heard u were a bit of a gamer so I just packaged u 2 together._

'A bit of a gamer' was a bit of an understatement. Jean played video games religiously. It was the only thing that got him through being at home with his parents, going to college, and working a crap job on the weekends. Maybe going to this party wouldn't be so bad… When he thought about Connie, he imagined they could be friends one day.

"Jean! Can you come help me!? The water won't turn off!" Marco shouted.

Of course the shower would choose now to do that thing where it never shuts off.

"I'm coming!" Jean said.

He quickly left his room and grabbed the bathroom door handle. It was locked.

"Marco, unlock the door!"

"I'm not dressed!"

"We're both guys! Just put the towel over yourself or something! I need to get under the counter in there!"

The door unlocked and then opened, revealing Marco with a towel around his waist and a blush on his cheeks.

Jean entered the bathroom and then knelt in front of the cabinet. He opened it, pulled out a wrench, and then turned to the bathtub. Just before he got up, he subtly took note of Marco's unclothed torso. On his shoulders, it seemed he had a few freckles here and there. He had a nearly unnoticeable amount of stomach hair that turned into his happy trail. And oddly enough, the tiny love handles he had, Jean admitted were kind of cute. Not really though. But they were…

Inwardly shaking his head, Jean got up and walked over to the bathtub. He turned the faucet off and then headed out of the bathroom to the basement, where he could turn the water off in the house.

…

"I'm sorry about the tub." Marco said while sitting on the foot of Jean's bed and dressed in his clothes.

"It's not your fault. This house is just crazy." Jean replied. It really was no big deal. This happened at least twice a week, so he was used to dealing with it.

"…By the way, your sunroof is cool. Must be fun to be able to look through it at night when the stars are out."

"Uh… yeah…"

"So, is that what you're wearing to the party?"

After looking his outfit over, twice, Jean blushed a bit. "Wh-what's wrong with what I have on?" he asked defensively.

"Nothing. It's fine."

"Well if it's so fine then why are you asking me about it?!"

"I was just curious. But you really do look fine, Jean." Marco smiled.

Unable to truly be upset with Marco while he flashed that innocent and shining smile, Jean rubbed his neck and then went over to his door, making sure to grab his XBOX controller as he did. "Let's get going or we'll be late."

"Okay."

* * *

"So how many parties do you go to?" Jean asked as he came to a stop at a red light.

"Not many. Actually, the last time I went to a party was in middle school. It was one of those ones where everyone gathers in a room and plays spin the bottle. I didn't even get picked. Then again, I'm sure nobody wanted to kiss me, haha."

Through the corner of his eye, Jean looked at Marco. He could see that he was using a fake smile to conceal what must have been a somewhat painful memory.

"It's cool. Nobody wants to kiss me, either. But I guess you do okay now that you're older, huh?" he said.

"It's complicated…"

"Complicated?" Jean asked, and turned to Marco.

"Yeah…"

"What does that mean-"

The person in the car behind Jean blew their horn angrily, making him realize the light was now green. After pulling off, he sighed. He would probably never figure out what was going on with this guy… unless he just came out and asked, but that would be rude. And although Jean was all for being labeled rude and unpleasant, for some reason, he didn't want that from Marco. This was the first person he actually had been able to establish a friendship with, after all.

The rest of the car ride was quiet apart from the crappy radio music that Jean had on so things wouldn't be awkward.

When he turned down Connie's street, he slowed down a bit because he didn't exactly remember which house was his. The only thing he knew was it was big… just like the rest of the houses in this neighborhood.

Marco leaned forward, "Is that Eren in that driveway?" he asked while squinting.

"Wear your glasses, dude…"

"I can tell that's Eren!" the freckled-boy said defensively.

"Yeah, sitting on the phone in the middle of the driveway, like an asshole."

Jean pulled into Connie's driveway and stared Eren down. Eren rolled his eye, but got up and walked inside the house. He looked very comfortable with his bare feet.

At first, Jean was ready to kick his ass. But then he remembered that Mikasa was probably here. If he wanted a shot with her, beating up Jaeger was not the right way to go about it.

There were already a few cars in the driveway. Thomas Wagner's car was up front, meaning he'd gotten here first. He probably brought Nic and Milius, too.

Then there was Jaeger's car. How that asshole managed to get a nicer set of wheels than Jean always confused him. Then again, his father was a doctor. Maybe he was sending him money or something. Plus there was that Hannes guy who helped them out when they needed it.

If Jaeger was here, Armin was probably here as well. And of course Mikasa was here. She went almost everywhere with Eren. And that's the main reason Jean decided to come.

"Thanks for bringing me." Marco said as he opened his door and got out.

Jean also got out, then when both doors were closed, he locked his car with his keypad.

Marco started up the driveway and he followed. He wanted to stick close to him because, one, it was through Marco that he was invited, and two, he didn't want to be standing around all alone. This was a party, not school, where being alone was perfectly acceptable.

Dazz was in the kitchen eating when they walked in, and he greeted Marco first. Jean waved casually at him, then continued following Marco through Connie's house.

"Jean, Marco! You two came!" Armin, who was sitting on the couch, said with a smile as they entered the living room.

Jean almost didn't reply as he was in the midst of fainting at the size of the television mounted on Connie's wall. It was _at least_ 72 inches.

Milius was sitting in the dining room and doing something on his phone.

"They better've come, or I would have caused a scene in class on Monday." Connie said.

He, along with Thomas and Nic, were in the middle of playing a round of Halo, and Connie was winning. There was a fourth player, but he was just standing there. It must have been Eren's character.

Speaking of Eren, he finally chose to come inside.

"You guys better not have killed me to up your numbers!" he shouted as he jumped over the couch and took a seat on the floor.

"We'd never do that!" Thomas said as he tossed a grenade down to the level Eren's character was on.

"Thomas, you jerk!"

Jean tuned out of the banter that followed, and then subtly started looking for Mikasa. She had to be here. Eren was here.

"You guys don't have to stand up." Connie said. "Sit on the couch or something."

Marco did just that and sat down beside Armin. Jean took a seat beside him.

"Are you looking for someone?" the blonde boy asked Jean quietly.

Marco turned to find out the answer. He'd become recently aware of Jean's interest in Mikasa, after all.

"N-no." Jean muttered.

Just then the back door flew open, causing everyone to turn around.

It was Sasha. She ran into the house with bags of groceries under her arms and quickly put them down onto the counter in the kitchen.

Connie grinned. "There you are. I was wondering when you two would get back."

"We were held up because Sasha wanted to buy the entire store out of potatoes. Most of the snacks we bought were chips."

Jean's heart skipped a beat when he heard Mikasa's voice coming from the back hallway. When she entered the kitchen, she was holding a few bags and looked a bit overwhelmed.

"Mi-Mikasa! Let me help you!" he insisted, then got up.

"That's the last of the groceries, so there's no need. But thank you, Jean." The girl replied.

Connie paused the game and looked around. "You guys up for food right now?"

"I am!" Sasha shouted and raised her hand high.

"Sure." Eren said, then got up.

Everyone followed his example and went into the kitchen.

When it was discovered that the girls had bought ice cream, there was an immediate, excited uproar in the kitchen. Quickly, Connie went over to the cabinets and grabbed some bowls, but put them on the counter angrily when he saw that Thomas and Eren had started eating out of the ice cream with his mom's large cooking spoons.

Marco and Armin got bowls for everyone, but Jean declined one when it was offered to him. Instead, he had his eyes on another sweet prize he was after.

Mikasa pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and then headed outside. It seemed like she was about to talk to someone, but when he slipped out of the kitchen and looked out Connie's back window, he saw her just sitting there and texting on it.

Was she texting Eren? That'd be weird… unless she wanted to tell him something private…

Stepping outside casually, and acting like he didn't know Mikasa had left the house, Jean feigned surprise and walked over to her.

"H-hey Mikasa. What's down… on… I mean, what's going on?" He said, stumbling over his words like an excited child.

Said girl looked up from her phone and smiled. "Hey Jean." She stated.

"Mikasa…" Jean began, and then took a seat beside her, "You're into video games?"

"Not really. But Eren and Armin are here, so I came with them. It's nice going out."

"…You… you know I think you're one of a kind, right?"

"Yes."

"I… I really would like to take you out sometime. You know, maybe see a movie or something."

"Jean-"

"There they are!" Connie shouted as he nearly fell out of his house from the back door, with Marco and Armin on his tail. "Jean, get your ass in here so we can get back to the game!"

Jean's eyebrows were furrowed. "But I wasn't even playing!"

"So what?! You're getting in next round for the loser, and Eren is down by a landslide!" Connie continued.

"And there's ice cream!" Marco added, holding on to his bowl of strawberry ice cream.

"Mikasa, aren't you bored out here?" Armin asked.

"I'm fine." Mikasa replied.

With a promise to be inside in a few minutes, Jean managed to get the three boys off his back.

Just before he went back inside, Marco noticed how close Jean was sitting to her and realized he was probably asking her out again. _"G-good luck, Jean…."_ He thought, and then followed Connie and Armin back into the house.

"Do you think he's going to ask Mikasa out again?" Armin whispered to Marco when he sat down beside him. He didn't want Eren finding out because he'd probably run outside and make a big deal about it.

"I don't know. He seemed like he wanted to be alone with her by the way he pretty much shooed us off."

"Marco, how do you feel about it?"

"Me? … I want Jean to be happy. If he can be happy with Mikasa, then that's what's best. He's my friend, after all. I wanna see him succeed."

"Jean?" Armin said.

Jean walked into the kitchen and leaned on the counter. The look on his face was a forlorn one.

Marco got up and went over to him. "What did she say?"

"Huh?"

"Mikasa. You asked her out, right?" he whispered while leaning in.

"How'd you know I was…?"

"I'm not stupid, Jean. Did she say yes?"

"No… she turned me down again… I can't make her see that I just want to make her happy. I… I really like her, you know?"

Marco got a bowl and then made Jean some ice cream. He offered it to him, and waited for the few seconds in which Jean decided he would eat it. "It'll make you feel better."

"Yeah right."

"Wanna talk about it? We can go sit outside in the front yard."

"Sure…" Jean said, looking down at the scoops of ice cream in his bowl.

* * *

"So basically, she turns me down just as much as Eren picks fucking fights with me." Jean said, and then put his last spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

"Jean, I can tell you've liked Mikasa for a long time… but maybe it's time to give her a break."

"Huh? What the hell are you saying?"

Marco looked down to the grass. "Well, think about it. It's fine from your end, since you like her, but how do you think she feels about constantly being asked out? I imagine she's a little annoyed…"

"She never puts off that kind of vibe when I ask her out!"

"…But Jean, she doesn't often put out vibes at all… apart from 'leave Eren alone', that is. I'm just saying-"

"You don't know anything…"

"…I know more than you think. I definitely know what it's like to have feelings for someone and know they'll never feel the same about you. But the difference between you and me is that I don't admit those feelings. I keep them inside where they won't do any damage. But you… you have more courage than I do. And I admire that. But if you really do care about Mikasa, you should think about this all from her perspective. That's all I'm saying. I'm not belittling you, and I'm not saying your feelings aren't valid."

"…"

Marco reached out and took Jean's hand into his own. He jumped when Jean pulled away quickly. "I'm sorry if I hurt you…"

"You didn't hurt me. It takes a lot to penetrate this thick skin."

"You know, Jean, somewhere out there, there's probably someone who likes you just the way you are. I know it sounds cliché, but it's true."

"Are you breaking up with me, Marco?"

Said boy's cheeks went red. "Wh-what?!"

"I was joking. Jeez…"

"R-right!" Marco said, and then felt himself growing warm. His heart started racing for a moment, but he didn't let Jean see his panic.

"Let's go back in. I bet Connie's looking for us." Jean said, then stood up and held out his hand.

Marco took it and used the support offered to him to stand.

"…"

"You were right, by the way. The ice cream helped a lot."

* * *

Connie's party went by fairly quickly, and ended late, with a lot of people saying they had to go home. It was about one o'clock in the morning.

Connie looked like he was set to stay up for another five hours, but he did realize he didn't have room to house everyone for the night. While Sasha and Dazz slept on the couches in the living room, Thomas, Nic and Milius left together because Thomas backed around everyone's cars in the driveway, Mikasa and Eren went outside with Eren carrying a sleeping Armin on his back, and Jean went out to his car with Marco.

As he waited for Mikasa to move her car, he felt a little better now that he had talked to Marco. And he decided that he would give her a break. While he hated to admit it, Marco was right. It must have been annoying for her to be constantly having to turn him down.

When she pulled out of the driveway and waited, Jean realized she was waiting for Eren, meaning he had to move his car.

Just as he started his car up, Eren came over to his window and tapped it with his index finger.

"What?" Jean asked, and then rolled his window down a bit.

"You did pretty well against Connie today. Even I had trouble beating him. Nice work, dude." Marco's eyes were wide, but not as wide as Jean's were. "Close your mouth, Kirstein. Oh wait, you're used to having it open like that, aren't you?" Eren asked, and then left to go to his car.

"Fuck you, Jaeger!" Jean shouted out his window, before he pulled out of the driveway. After waving to Mikasa, he sped off down the street.

"Jean, slow down!" Marco shouted, holding on to the seat belt with a death grip.

"You don't like me going fast?"

"No, because I like living!"

"Alright, alright." Jean said, and then slowed down a bit. "So how do I get to your place?"

"You'll have to take the road that leads to Wall Rose for about ten miles, then there will be a turnoff that leads to my neighborhood." Marco replied.

Ten miles? That was a ways out… It was a wonder Wall Maria had the funding to run the bus out to Marco's place. Then again, there had to be some transportation between the town near Rose's entrance and Maria's, which is where Jean lived. Marco must have lived towards the center at a halfway point. But it was unlikely the bus took him into his neighborhood.

"Jean, look out!" Marco shouted abruptly, startling Jean.

When his front right tire ran into a pothole, Jean's eyes went wide. He quickly hit the brake and he gripped his steering wheel, the only thing he could do in this situation.

His car ended up jumping the curb, and he knew his tire was flat.

"Shit!" he shouted, and then looked over to Marco. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Marco nodded, holding on to his seat belt and breathing heavily.

After getting out and observing the damage, Jean realized he wouldn't be able to drive Marco home. In fact, getting to his house was pretty much out of the question.

While he knelt beside his front right tire, Marco got out of the car and wiped his eye. "Jean, I'm so sorry… This happened because you were taking me home-"

"No good deed goes unpunished, Marco. This isn't your fault."

"…What are we going to do?"

"Do you have someone you could call to come pick you up?"

Marco put his hands in his pockets before responding, "No… my mom doesn't have much gas and my dad's in Wall Sina on business."

"…I guess you'll have to come home with me tonight, then. No homo."

"…Jean…"

"Don't make any excuses. You don't have anywhere to stay tonight, right?"

"Right..."

"Then you're coming home with me. My dad and I will come back out here tomorrow to change my tire. I don't have a jack, so I can't do it now." Jean said. He stood up and walked over to Marco. "Can you stand over there out of the way? I need to get my car off the road."

"Alright."

When Marco was out of his way, Jean got into his car and slowly drove off the road.

After getting out of his car and locking it up, he went back over to Marco, who was standing with his hands behind his back nervously.

He put his hand on the freckled boy's shoulder and smiled at him. "Don't worry about this. It'll be taken care of in the morning, and then I'll take you home. So c'mon."

"Okay… Thank you, Jean."

"It's no problem. We're friends, remember?"

Marco's eyes lit up a bit and he returned Jean's smile. "Yeah." He replied.


	4. Blush

Blush

* * *

"What do you think about the stars?" Marco asked, looking up at them as he and Jean walked in the night air, heading to Jean's house.

Jean looked up at them and shrugged. "I don't know. They're cool, that's for sure."

"I always wonder if they're another star, like the sun, lighting another solar system. Or something like that. I mean, it's amazing that we can see them from so far away, and they're usually in the same spot, too."

"Aren't they just balls of gas?" Jean asked. He'd heard somewhere that that's what they were.

"I think so. But have a little imagination!" the freckled-boy countered with a smile, and nudged Jean's arm with his elbow.

"I've got all the imagination I need."

"Is this your street?"

"Yeah."

Although he was trying to seem cool and collected on the outside, inside, Jean was fretting a bit. His parents were probably at home. Hopefully they were asleep. But if they weren't, they'd probably be curious about why he was bringing a boy home in the first place, especially at this hour.

A boy like Marco at that…

From the corner of his eyes, Jean observed Marco. He was definitely a little odd. The guy was too cheerful, too studious, too nice, too caring… That question that was in the back of his mind found its way to the main room and thrashed about like a bullet in a bank vault.

Was Marco gay?

How weird would that be? And how would that affect his image, being seen with him?

Well, even if he was, he was still cooler than Jaeger. And he was fun to be around, and to joke with.

For now, he put that question out of his mind because the two of them had reached his house. The last thing he needed was something like that being suspected. He wasn't usually very good at hiding things, after all.

When he got to his front door, he unlocked it and then opened it a bit. Sticking his head inside, he could see nothing out of the ordinary, and neither of his parents were in the living room or dining room. From the kitchen he could see the light over the stove was on. It was the dimmest light in the house, and his mom always left it on so she could see when she got up late at night.

Thankfully, nobody was awake. Not even the dog, it seemed.

"C'mon." he whispered to Marco.

The two of them crept through the house, Jean on his tiptoes for some reason, until they reached his bedroom.

Snuggles, his mom's Pomeranian, was asleep in the washing room. Hopefully he stayed that way. That dog barked if a fly flew by him.

Jean opened his bedroom door and let Marco go into the room first, then entered after him. He closed it quietly, then locked it to make sure he wasn't disturbed. It would be more compelling an argument to say that Marco dropped by for a visit tomorrow morning than it would him spending the night.

Speaking of which, Jean realized he didn't really have anywhere for Marco to sleep. The guest room was currently a study for his father, and the attic was cluttered with holiday decorations. There was barely room up there for anyone to walk around.

Marco was now sitting on the bed with his hands together, looking nervous.

Making him sleep on the floor seemed like a mean thing to do, so Jean made his decision. "I'm gonna sleep on the floor and you can have the bed." He said.

"What? You shouldn't have to-"

"It's cool. And it's only for one night. I'd sleep on the couch, but I don't want my parents asking me why I am."

"Jean, I'm sorry about your car… and tonight… it's been one big disaster."

Said man shook his head and turned on his TV. "I told you it was fine. And…" after picking up his remaining XBOX controller, since he left his other one in his car, Jean took a seat on the floor at the foot of his bed, "thanks for letting me talk to you about the whole Mikasa thing. I'm sorry for snapping at you the way I did. You didn't deserve it."

When Jean turned to him, Marco blushed and put his hand up defensively. "It's okay, really! You were just trying to cope, and I guess that's your way of doing it."

"You saying I have anger issues?" Jean asked teasingly.

"N-no, I-"

"I'm kidding, Marco. You should know me by now."

"Right."

After turning on his XBOX, Jean selected Final Fantasy XIII and waited as it loaded.

"I didn't know you liked Final Fantasy." Marco commented, pulling his legs up and sitting Indian style at the foot of the bed.

"I fucking hate this game."

"Then… why are you playing it?"

"To beat it, of course. I don't want to give up halfway through and be a quitter. If I'm gonna hate it, I'm gonna hate it now and after I had the patience to beat it."

The title music came on, and Marco smiled. "It's got very pretty music." He said.

"Yeah but that doesn't make up for the story."

"I only played up to ten, so I don't know much about this game. But it took everything I had to complete the ones I did at a hundred percent. At least they teach noble life lessons, hah."

"Yeah, these games are very time-consuming and frustrating to beat."

"But the graphics in this one are amazing." Marco said when the game loaded and Jean started walking around with Lightning.

"Still, it doesn't make up for the confusing story."

…

About forty minutes into Jean's gameplay, Marco found himself growing a bit tired. Jean told him to go to sleep, and immediately regretted it when the boy commented on the sweet scent coming from underneath the blankets.

His eyes grew wide when he turned around and spotted what was now in Marco's hand.

"A sock?" the freckled-boy asked. "This is what smells so sweet?"

Jean quickly jumped up onto the bed and grabbed for the sock when Marco put it close to his nose. He didn't get it though, because Marco lifted it higher in the air so he couldn't.

"Give that to me, Marco." He said, his cheeks incredibly hot. He crawled over the boy, but a hand on his chest kept him from being able to reach it.

"Is this… Jean, are you firing your boys into this thing?" Marco asked.

"Yes, now give it here!" Jean whispered irritatedly.

"Haha it smells kinda sweet, you know."

When Marco gave it to him, Jean quickly got off the bed and shoved the garment into his dirty clothes hamper.

"You don't have to sleep on the bed if the smell bothers you." He said once he sat back down and his back was to Marco.

"It's okay. I actually like the smell."

Jean closed his eyes for a second and swallowed a mouthful of saliva before he looked down to the carpet. His cheeks were warm, incredibly warm. He tried to ignore that statement, but it was so weird. What guy likes the scent of another guy's… _stuff_?

"Marco…"

"Yeah?" said boy replied, now under the sheets and curled up comfortably in them.

"Are you…" Jean paused and took a breath. The thought of this, the possibility of the answer he'd get, it made his heart race with confusion and nervousness. "Are you gay?" he asked.

There, it was out in the open now.

Silence filled the room, apart from the music playing from the game that was. It occurred to him that if Marco wasn't gay, this would put a damper on their friendship. He couldn't think of a straight guy who would like being suspected of that.

"Yeah, I am." was Marco's response.

"…Oh…"

"If that's a problem… We don't have to be friends or hang out anymore…"

Jean's eyes went wide and he felt a pain tugging at his heart.

He didn't know what to say, but he didn't want to lose Marco over something so stupid. Why had he said that in the first place?

No, he knew the reason.

It's so completely impossible for gay men and straight men to hang out, isn't it? At least, that's how he perceived it. How many friends had he lost once they found out? How many times had he been abandoned because of this secret?

That statement made Jean feel incredibly guilty. Did he really think something like that would make him stop talking to him forever?

Turning, he saw Marco sitting up as if he was prepared to leave if necessary.

"Marco, I don't care if you are." He said honestly.

Not Marco. It could be anyone else but Marco. He just couldn't lose him. He had to be there for him, support him, protect him, to make up for all the times he didn't back when they were kids. It was foolish, he knew it was, but he didn't care. This was Marco. _Marco_. Someone he had fun with, and teased, and could talk to. Even if he was gay, it didn't matter.

He was a friend.

"You can lay down, I'm not kicking you out or anything."

Marco nodded and then curled back up in the blankets.

It was quiet now. Really quiet. Not even the game or the low hum of the air conditioner made things any better.

Shit, now things were awkward.

* * *

At some point a bit later that night, Marco fell asleep, curled up in the "sweet" smell he enjoyed. Jean eventually got tired of being killed by the Behemoth creatures, so he turned the game off and then got some blankets from his closet so he could make a spot on the floor.

Once he had, he laid down with his hands behind his head and sighed. Although he didn't want it to, Marco's confession changed things more than a little.

…

The next morning.

Marco woke up and yawned, then stretched his limbs out until they cracked. He had slept very comfortably in Jean's bed, and sat up to thank him for letting him stay the night.

Jean was gone, though.

He could see the door was locked, meaning he had locked him in this morning when he left.

A little nervous, he looked up through the sun roof at the sun and the clouds in the sky. Jean had said his sexuality wasn't a problem, but did he really mean that?

The sound of the door unlocking made him look to it quickly. When it opened and Jean walked in with a black t-shirt and pair of gray jeans on, he felt a little relieved.

"Oh, you're up?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, I just woke up."

"I hope you slept well."

"I did, thanks Jean."

"No problem. By the way, me and my dad were able to go change my tire. I can take you home now."

"Okay."

Jean walked over to the blankets he'd left on the floor and picked them up. After putting them into his closet, he turned to Marco and put his hands into his pockets. "My mom went out shopping and my dad went to the hardware store to get some stuff to fix the tub. There's some breakfast in the kitchen if you're hungry."

"Are you leaving?" Marco asked. From the way he was talking, it seemed like he was.

"No, I'm going to take a shower. My dad made me change the oil in my car after we fixed the tire."

"Oh, okay."

"I washed your clothes for you, by the way. They're on top of the dryer if you wanna change."

Without another word, Jean picked out some clean clothes and then left the room to head for his parent's bathroom.

Marco pulled the sheets back and got off the bed, then tidied it up before he left the room as well. His clothes from yesterday were clean, just like Jean had said, and they smelled very nice too.

After changing into them, he headed to the kitchen where breakfast was said to be. He stopped, though, when a Pomeranian came out of nowhere and started barking at him.

With a smile he bent down and held his hand out. It just needed to recognize him by his scent to not be so apprehensive. When it sniffed his hand and then licked it, he petted it gently.

"That's a good boy." He said, and then checked to make sure it was a boy.

"OH MY GOD! WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE!?"

Marco looked up to see a woman standing with bags in her arms and a horrified look on her face. She had light brown hair and a light complexion. It had to be Jean's mother.

"Oh, good morning! I'm Marco, Jean's friend." He said, and then stood up.

"Jean's friend?"

"That's right!"

Jean's mother walked over to him and inspected him, looking him over suspiciously. "Really now…?"

"We just met this semester." Marco said nervously.

"Well, how does someone as nice as you end up being friends with Jean?"

"Eh heh heh…" the freckled-boy scratched the back of his head and blushed.

"Mom, leave him alone." Jean said as he came out from the hallway.

"Jean, you haven't had a friend come over in a long time. Should I make you a cake to celebrate?"

"Mom…"

"I'm kidding, darling." the woman said, and then walked into the kitchen and put the groceries down on the island. "How long will you be hanging out for, Marco?" she asked.

"Oh, well I'm going home in a few."

"Didn't you just get here?"

"He just needed to pick something up." Jean answered.

"Okay, well, any friend of Jean's is welcome here." His mom said, and then left the kitchen, asking Jean to put away the groceries before she was gone.

"Hey, make sure to get something to eat before we go." Jean said to Marco. Then after rolling his eyes, he started putting the groceries away.

"Kay."

…

Sitting in his car with the door open and one of his legs out, Jean waited for Marco to come out of the house. After eating breakfast, the boy had insisted on washing his dishes.

"C'mon Marco." He said, shaking his leg impatiently.

His mom may not have been able to tell Marco was gay, but his dad would probably see it the moment he met him. So he wanted to take him home before his dad got back.

And just like that, Marco came out of the house, apologizing for taking so long.

"It's fine. Let's just get on the road." Jean said.

Marco quickly got into the car and put on his seatbelt.

Jean started the car and then pulled out of his driveway.

Thankfully his dad didn't get home before he could get out of the neighborhood.

…

Taking the road that led to the next town near Wall Rose was something Jean didn't usually get to do. In fact, he hadn't traveled this road since he was a kid. A lot had changed. There were noticeably a few stores and supermarkets along the way.

Looking over, he saw Marco looking out the window and enjoying the scenery. The sun was beaming down on him through the window, and he wondered what it'd be like to ride with them down.

When he put them down, Marco turned to him.

"I just thought the breeze would be nice." He said.

And it was… although his hair kept blowing in his eyes. It was time for a haircut.

Their trip was about thirty minutes long, filled with songs that, oddly enough, went perfectly with the mood the open country brought. Marco started singing that song The A Team when it came on. Jean couldn't help but smile a little.

"It's too cooooold outside for angels to fly." he sang, a little off key.

"You know, that'd be a good winter song." Jean commented.

"I know. I'm pretty excited about winter, and I don't even know why."

"Oi, this your neighborhood?"

There was a very large neighborhood coming up, and it was full of big houses.

"Yeah."

"You-you live in one of those giant houses?"

"Mhmm."

"How can you afford it? Not to be rude or anything…"

"My family is a family of horse breeders, and we also have a farm, too."

"…I did not know that about you." Jean said, and then turned down the street that led into the neighborhood.

"My house is all the way at the end of the street."

When they reached it, Jean slowly stopped and took in its size.

"It may seem like I'm rich, but I'm far from it, actually. There's a lot of expenses my family has to cover, and I'm also in college… which is very expensive. Even Maria University was barely in price range for me."

"Marco, it's cool. Just 'cuz you have a big house doesn't change my perception of you."

Marco put his hand on the door handle, but before he opened the door, he turned to Jean. "Does me being gay change it?"

"N-no. I told you that doesn't matter to me. You're still my friend."

"O-okay."

"I'll see you next week. Take it easy, Marco." Jean said when the boy got out and headed to his front door.

"Right. You too, Jean. And thank you for everything." Marco replied with a smile.

Once Marco was inside his house, and waved at him, Jean turned around and headed back the way he'd entered the neighborhood from. And now he knew for sure that Marco wasn't hiding anything.

Maybe he thought he was burdening Jean by having him bring him home.

But judging from how far the bus stop was from his house, Jean realized he couldn't just let Marco continue to take the bus in the morning…

* * *

Monday. Lunch time.

Sitting alone at a table off in the corner of the cafeteria, Jean took a bite out of his burger and rolled his eyes as some students walked by outside and stared at him.

"_Can't a guy eat alone without looking like a fucking loser? Damn. Maybe I like being alone 'cuz I hate people."_ He thought, picking up some fries from his plate.

After stuffing them into his mouth, he pulled his drink closer and then drank from the straw.

He'd gotten here early to avoid the lunch rush, when like a thousand students poured into the cafeteria. Unfortunately, time got away from him as he sat alone, and that's exactly what happened.

Now it was even worse that he was eating alone because everyone would be looking at him, not just passing sorority girls on their way to go shower together and brush each others' hair, or whatever it was they did.

Since he decided to look down at his plate, he didn't notice Marco when he came into the cafeteria.

Consequently, he was surprised when a pair of tennis shoes and pants came into his peripheral.

Looking up, he was met with a smiling, freckle-cheeked smile.

"Marco?"

"Hey Jean."

"What are you doing here?"

"Eating lunch. You're not eating with anyone?"

"Nah." Jean said, trying to look cool.

"Mind if I sit here?" Marco asked, putting his hand on the chair beside Jean.

"Yes, I do."

"O-oh."

"I'm kidding, dude. Take a seat. I wanted to talk to you."

Marco took his booksack off and put it on the back of the chair, then sat down in it. "Am I in trouble?"

"No, I wanted to tell you something."

"What's that?"

Jean reached down and picked up his glass, then drank from it, before he spoke, "I'm going to be bringing you to and from school from now on."

"What?!"

"Do you need me to repeat that?"

"Jean, why-"

"Cuz we're friends, and friends help each other, right?"

"You don't have to do so much for me. Why do you keep going out of your way for me?"

"…Marco… I was there in elem-"

"Hey, it's Marco and Jean!"

Jean and Marco turned and saw Connie and Sasha coming their way with drinks and plates of food in their hands.

"Mind if we sit here?" the shorter asked.

Before either of them could respond, the duo took the two empty seats at the table and then started talking as if it were normal. Jean was a little upset, because he was about to come clean to Marco, but it seemed he had to wait for that.

"So I was watching Thomas the Train this morning-"

"Connie, why doesn't that surprise me?" Jean asked, being slightly insulting because he was upset. It wasn't everyday he had the urge to do what he almost did.

"Don't go there, Jean. It just so happened to come on and it was on in the background as I was eating breakfast." Marco and Sasha were still paying attention to him, so Connie continued, "As I was saying, I happened to be watching Thomas the Train this morning, and I had this realization that that show is freaking awful."

"Welcome to the club." Marco said, and then grinned.

"No, but I mean because that show is centered around trains, and those trains can only follow a path that's already been laid for them. There's no room for aberrants. That's gotta be some kinda living hell. I mean, imagine if we were all that way. Marco, you wouldn't like ding dongs, Jean, you'd be more social, and Sasha, you'd eat a lot less. We'd be the us that someone wants us to be, and not be true to ourselves."

Marco blushed, Jean rolled his eyes, and Sasha picked up a few of her fries in slow motion before she slowly put them into her mouth.

"Connie, did you really just center a life lesson… well, what you probably consider a life lesson… around a kid's show?" Jean asked after there was a moment of silence in the group.

"Yup. I can do that cuz I'm just that smart."

"…"

Silence ensued once more, and Connie started eating his food as if he hadn't slightly offended anyone.

"Anyway, that's not what I wanna talk about anymore. You guys know I'm throwing a Halloween party this year, right?"

"That's like, a month away Connie." Marco said.

"It's gonna be epic though, so I'm preparing for it now."

Jean raised an eyebrow. "Are your parents going out or something?"

"That's right. They'll be gone for the entire last week of October. You guys are welcome to come over when I throw this bad boy." The boy replied.

"I'll keep that in mind." Jean said.

"So you guys liking this semester so far?" Connie asked, changing the subject again.

He was a random fellow, Jean mentally noted.

"I like every semester!" Sasha smiled, "Well, except that one where I had to take that math course…"

"What about you Jean?"

"It's only been a week, dude. But… I guess it hasn't been so bad." Said man replied, and then looked at Marco.

"I've been having a good semester so far." Marco admitted, making sure to throw a smile Jean's way.

"Hey, I gotta get going." Jean said, "Marco, text me when you get out of class so I can take you home."

"Okay."

Connie and Sasha stayed quiet and watched as Jean got up and patted Marco on the back, then waved at everyone before he left.

Once he was gone, Connie cleared his throat. "So Marco, you like Jean?"

Cheeks going red immediately, Marco looked down and picked up his drink, then drank from it to maybe mask his nervousness.

Sasha stared at him, but Connie continued talking. "If I was gay, I'd be into that. Anti-social, moderately attractive, doesn't give a damn about anything, angry all the time… though he seems to have a soft spot for you…" He said.

"He's… he's just a friend!"

"Your cheeks are so red I feel like I'm looking at a tomato." Sasha commented, then giggled.

"Admit it, you like Jean, don't you?" Connie ordered.

"I… He's… he's straight."

"So? I feel like you could flip him if you wanted to."

"Connie…"

"He's taking you home now, right? What reason do you think he'd have for doing that?"

"He just wants to be nice."

Sasha got into a thinking pose. "Think about it, Connie. Maybe Jean just wants to make a friend. Sometimes bein' alone is… well just plain lonely."

"Speaking of lonely, you know who's never lonely?"

"Who?"

"Reiner."

"Oh, right! He's always with Bertholdt, isn't he?"

Marco stayed quiet while the two started gossiping, thankful the attention was no longer centered on him.

"Yeah, they've known each other forever, but get this…"

"What?"

"I think they're doing it in secret."

"Maybe they're just bros… Good pals, ya know?"

"No way."

"Bertholdt likes Annie."

"He does?"

"Armin told me last semester when we had that school meeting about keeping the campus clean."

"Oh… well there goes that theory. Still, something about their friendship seems… weird."

"Hey guys, I gotta go. I have homework to do, so I'm gonna sit in the library 'til my next class." Marco interrupted.

"Alrighty. Have a good day, Marco." Sasha said genuinely.

"Yeah, and don't deny it if you feel it, man." Connie added.

With red cheeks, Marco got up and took his dishes to the dish return.

Sure, he thought Jean was attractive, and being around him was fun, but that didn't mean he _liked_ him, did it?

His phone vibrated in his pocket, so he pulled it out and saw that Jean had texted him.

_Our friends are weird_

After looking over to the two animated characters in the corner, bathed in sunlight, he smiled.

_Yeah, but they're ours :)_


	5. Unstoppable Tears

Unstoppable Tears

* * *

And so, three weeks passed where Jean fell into a healthy schedule of picking Marco up in the mornings, and dropping him off after classes were over. It was nice. Incredibly nice. It also became predictable. Something to look forward to… _kind of_… And for once, he felt at ease having someone at his side so often.

The two of them even started doing more things together, like eating lunch with Connie, Sasha, and the occasional addition, like Armin or Christa. Occasionally, they wound up studying together after class in the library.

The day is Wednesday. The time is just after Earth Science.

"I don't want to look." Marco said, holding a test paper against his chest nervously as he and Jean stood in the hallway with other students passing them by.

They had taken the test on Monday, and Professor Hanji had returned their tests just before class had ended.

"Shit… I got a seventy-two." Jean mumbled, looking down at his own paper that was stained with red marks and comments.

Cautiously, Marco pulled his own paper away from his chest and looked at it. "A ninety-six…"

"Hey, be happy about that! It could've been a lot worse!"

Lifting his first paper, Marco's eyebrows rose when he saw the red X marks. "I missed two multiple choice questions?! Gosh, how could I have been so stupid…?"

Jean reached over and snatched the test out of Marco's hand. "Let's switch grades then. I'd happily take a ninety-six."

Marco took his paper back and sighed. "I guess I'll get a hundred next time." He said. "Jean, you should study with me a bit more for these tests so you can do better."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"You'd better! I want you to do well!"

"Oi, I've gotta get to my next class. I'll text you later."

"Right. Me too. Have a good day, Jean."

"You too, Marco."

With a wave, Jean parted ways with his freckle-cheeked friend.

Marco watched him as he went, and blushed when his eyes found their way down to Jean's ass. Shaking his head, he put his test paper into his booksack, and then headed to his next class.

* * *

"Don't forget class, if you're going to do the critique for A Doll's House, Friday is the last day to see the play in the theater." The professor with a slight gut said, before heading over to his computer.

Seated in the middle of his theater class, Marco looked around as some of the other students started making plans to see the play together. Although he was friendly, he was also shy. He didn't know any of these people, so he wasn't exactly comfortable just inviting himself to join any of them.

His dark brown eyes found their way to the large blonde guy Reiner and his tall friend Bertholdt were sitting a few rows over.

"Bertholdt, we should go together." Reiner said.

"Yeah. Do you think Annie would want to come?" the taller man asked.

"Do you really need to ask that?"

"…"

"It'll be just you and me, though. Should be fun."

"Right."

"Wanna go Friday?"

"Sure. I get out from practice early that day."

"Good, maybe we could… uh… never mind."

Marco tuned out of their conversation and then sighed. Then he realized something.

Pulling out his phone, he opened his messages from Jean and decided to ask him if he'd want to go.

_Wanna go with me to the play on Friday?_ he asked.

_A play?_

_Yeah, I can go alone if you can't._

_I'll go. I'm not doing anything that day, anyway._

_Great! : )_

_How much are tickets?_

_Free for students._

_That's convenient._

_I know!_

_And what time is it?_

_Around 7._

_Hey, I just realized. Why are you texting in class?_

_Cuz class is almost over. I'll meet you at your car in a few._

_Okay._

Marco made to put his phone away, but when it vibrated, he stopped and opened Jean's new message.

_Btw, I'll play dodgeball with you, and we can just change at my house for teh play._

_*the_

With a big smile, Marco sent his reply, _You're gonna have so much fun!_

_I hope so…_

* * *

Friday before dodgeball.

With the windows down and the music playing, Jean drove himself and Marco to campus to reach the tennis courts. Marco was sitting with his arm rested on the door and smiling as the wind blew through his short, obsidian-colored hair. He was very excited that Jean was practically spending the day with him today.

"Oi, Marco… I've been meaning to ask you."

"Hm?" said boy asked, turning to his friend.

"Did you take the bus to campus just to go to dodgeball before I started driving you? There's no class on Friday, so…"

"Y-yeah. But I told you it wasn't a big deal."

"That's crazy…"

"Dodgeball is crazy. Crazy and fun."

"So your parents don't want to buy you a car?"

"They would if they had the money to. I'm getting most of my financial aid from my grades, and my SAT score got me a big discount, but they still need to pay for the remaining expenses. _Plus_ they put a roof over my head and food in my stomach. That's all I get from them. Besides, I have three younger siblings."

"So you do all the work on the farm?"

"Oh, no. There's six older than me, haha. Though, three of them live in Wall Rose. Everyone who lives here does work around the farm."

"Wait, your parents had ten kids?!"

"Mhmm."

"…Are you the only… you know…?"

"The only gay one? Yeah. At least, I think so. And I really keep it to myself. I didn't get much attention, so I guess that's why neither of my parents cared about my sexuality… Besides, they already have seven grandkids."

Jean couldn't tell if that was a good or a bad thing, Marco being neglected the way he claimed to be. Everyone needs some attention. Being one of ten must've been tough for him growing up, and even now. But even so, his personality was so warm and inviting. Maybe things weren't _so_ bad for him…

"Are you okay, Jean?" Marco asked, interrupting Jean's train of thought.

"Yeah, I'm cool."

"Hey look, there are only a few people here today."

Jean pulled up in the parking lot across the street from the tennis courts, and noticed that the only people there were Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Erwin, Levi, and his four friends.

Armin was the first to notice them and waved. "You guys made it!" he said with a smile.

"Mhmm!" Marco hurried onto the court, where he started talking to Armin about an assignment they must have had in another class.

"Erwin, maybe we should start. I only have time for one or two games…" Levi commented, looking a bit bored.

"I guess you're right. Anyone else who comes can join in the next game." The blonde man said.

When he went over to start putting on his gear, Jean noticed Marco watching him closely. He was a bit curious about what one man could see in another, so he also watched Erwin. However, he turned away when the man lifted his shirt, revealing his lower stomach, to adjust the belt of his Maneuver Gear.

"Are you new?" one of Levi's little groupies asked as she came up to Jean. It was the girl with bright orange-ish blonde hair.

"Well, only to playing dodgeball. I've been at this university for three years."

"Oh! How nice. I'm glad you decided to join us!" she said. "I'm Petra, by the way."

"The name's Jean." Jean replied somewhat awkwardly, trying to seem uninterested by looking off with heavy lidded eyes. If things with Mikasa weren't going anywhere, this short woman seemed like a nice enough person to go out with.

"Oi, gaki! Don't be hittin' on Petra!"

Said woman turned and made a shooing motion. "Oluo, leave him alone! You'll make it so he never wants to come back!"

"He's just jealous." The guy with golden blonde hair that was tied back said as he and a shorter brunette guy also came over. "I'm Erd, by the way. And this is Gunther." He told Jean.

Gunther folded his arms and smirked. "Oluo, why don't you just admit that you-"

"Leave me alone!" Oluo shouted defensively.

Jean watched with a very confused look on his face as the four of them started bickering, more the guys than Petra, of course. She was obviously the most level-headed of the group.

"Look what you started." Eren's voice came from behind him.

"Not today, Jaeger."

"Can't help but stir up chaos whenever you show your horse-face."

"Jaeger-"

"How does such a nice guy like Marco end up being your best friend?"

"Hey, you are literally begging me to- wait, what?"

Mikasa came over and put her hand on Eren's shoulder. Eren turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "The game is about to begin. Let's line up against the fence." She said. "Hello, Jean."

"Right." Eren mumbled.

"Jean, come over here so you can put your gear on!" Marco shouted, waving both his arms in the air from beside Armin.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Jean did as he was told.

When he came up in front of Marco, he took his hands out and then took the gear from his friend.

"H-huh, how do I…?"

Obviously struggling to get it on right, Marco got closer to him and then helped him. When he knelt in front of him, Jean blushed and turned away. It was then that he saw Eren stick his tongue against the inside of his cheek, implying something very inappropriate.

"There!" Marco said with a smile, and then stood up. "Now let's get on the fence so we can start!"

"Yeah."

After seeing everyone ready, Erwin began his countdown from five.

Jean quickly took note of the balls on the court, and then he looked around curiously when he noticed how few there were. "Where are all the other balls?" he asked.

"Scattered over the old school buildings. Probably on the rooftops." Armin answered. "Be careful since you're a beginner."

"I'll be fine."

Marco shook his head, and then when Erwin shouted out for everyone to go, he quickly dashed to the other side of the court.

Jean watched as Marco sent his anchor off to one of the buildings, and then flew over to it.

He was a bit nervous about doing it, but if Marco, Armin, and even Connie were able to do it, then he could, too.

Everyone else seemed to be more comfortable playing off-court, he noticed. And after about a minute, he looked around and noticed that he was the only person still with his feet on the ground.

Most of the others he couldn't even see anymore.

The four friends of Levi were all going after Levi, who was dodging their balls like he could see them coming before they even threw them. That guy was a beast.

Mikasa was standing like a stone statue atop one of the buildings, seeming to be waiting for something. Like she knew something was coming… It was probably not a good idea to go near her.

Picking up a red ball off the ground, Jean decided to join everyone over on the older campus buildings. Awkwardly, he sent his anchor off to one of the buildings, and then reeled himself over to it. He failed to reach the top, though, and ended up dropping his ball as he tried reaching for the rooftop.

Armin grabbed his hand and helped him up just as he nearly fell to the ground below.

"Jean, are you okay?" the blonde boy asked, and then struggled to pull him up.

When he got onto the rooftop, said man dusted himself off. "I'm fine. Thanks."

Looking around to the other buildings, he saw that this part of campus was larger than he initially thought it was. The entire area spanned about four or five blocks. He wondered how the university managed to muster up the money to make the newer buildings that most of the students used.

"I'm coming for you, Eren!" Erwin's powerful voice rang like thunder from the building to the right of Jean and Armin.

"That's not fair! Go after Levi! You guys always end up the last two in the game!" Eren replied, and then made to move further away from Erwin, who was now going for him.

Just as Erwin let his rear guard down, Mikasa threw her ball at the blonde man and hit him right on the arm.

Erwin quickly turned and stared at her with a shocked expression on his face. But as rules dictated, he was out now, and had to go wait on the court for someone to catch him in on their team.

Eren took that chance to duck off, because he saw Levi coming for Mikasa.

Jean watched in awe as he emerged behind the short man and managed to take him out with a head shot.

Eren was actually pretty good.

"You did it, Eren!" Armin shouted.

"Don't get too comfy around Kirstein!" Eren replied.

Jean flipped him off, but Armin smiled and shook his head. His blue eyes went wide and that smile vanished when he noticed something, though.

"What's… what's that?" he asked.

"Huh?" Jean said.

"…There's someone over there with the gear on, but their face is hidden by that cloak…"

Indeed, there was someone standing on a rooftop with a dark green cloak on and the hood up to hide their face. Something about them seemed ominous, dangerous even. They were facing the group with their hands bawled up, as if they had a grudge against the world.

Oluo, Erd, Petra, and Gunther noticed the person, and made to catch them.

But like magic, whoever it was disappeared when the group got close.

Gunther looked around, and then spotted them off on a tree branch near the park that was just off campus. "There!" he shouted.

Like a bird, he soared with his gear towards the person, but when he got close, they jumped onto his line, and then ran along it as if they were weightless, heading right for him. From under the large, green cloak, the person pulled out a ball, and then slammed it into the back of his head. It all happened so fast that Gunther ended up colliding face first with the tree and then fell to the ground.

"Gunther-san!" Eren shouted from his faraway spot on a roof.

Being the two closest to the person who had attacked Gunther, Erd and Petra quickly made their way towards them.

"Damn you! How dare you do that to Gunther! Come at me and I'll take you down!"

Jean was shocked when he heard Petra say that. She obviously wasn't as sweet and collected when she came under emotional pressure.

Erd was faster than Petra was, and he charged the person, who slid just out of his reach, and then grabbed hold of his line. Like a key ring being spun on someone's finger, they moved along it, using their hand to do so, and then let their foot collide with his ribcage, as if meaning to snap him in half. Then, after sending him to the ground below, they threw a ball down at him.

"Errrrrdoo!" Petra shouted with tears in her eyes, her cry echoing in the air.

Oluo could see Petra was in danger, so he quickly tried reaching her to stop her from engaging this mystery person.

However, there was no stopping her.

She tossed her ball to the ground, ready to use force to take this person down. Sending her anchor into the building ahead, she readied a fighting pose since her collision with this person would happen in less than five seconds.

When they were in close proximity, she threw her fist out, but missed when they slipped out of her range.

"H-how!? There was no way I could have missed!" she shouted.

Like a pro, the person used their gear to turn around and then speed up on Petra's backside.

"Petra! Behind you! Get over here to me! Petra! Nooooow!" Oluo shouted desperately.

He watched helplessly as the person used both their feet to slam Petra into the building, and then gritted his teeth as she slid to the ground and was hit with a ball mockingly.

Eren's enraged shout rang through the area, and he used all the speed his gear would allow to try reaching the scene.

Calming himself as the person seemed too satisfied with their victory over his friends, Oluo sent both his anchors out and caught the cloak on either side. Then, he sped over to the person.

"Take this!" he said, preparing to slam his fist into the back of their head.

Jean and Armin watched as the person, who seemed utterly caught, used the gear to rip the ends of their cloak, and got out of Oluo's line of fire.

"Let's go!" Jean shouted to Armin, and then hurried off when he saw Mikasa going to catch up to Eren.

Armin nodded and promptly followed after Jean.

From a kick to the back, Oluo was sent flying a few meters until he landed and slid on some grass, just barely missing the concrete.

Eren was the last person to reach the person, but before he could do anything, a backhanded blow from whoever it was sent him flying in the opposite direction and landing in a bush.

"Mikasa!" Armin shouted when he saw her reach the cloaked figure.

Jean was worried for her, but when he noticed something on the ground from the corner of his eye, he was distracted by it and consequently slammed into the building.

Armin called out to her as well, but he was conflicted about who to help because he saw Jean hit the building.

Jean picked himself up and ran around the building he crashed into, falling down from how nervous he was and getting up again. Heart racing incredibly fast, he stopped when he came across Marco lying on his back on the ground with his chin facing the sky. It was enough to make his heart feel as if it was no longer beating.

"Marco!" he exclaimed, and then hurried over to the boy. When he reached him, he knelt and shook him by the arm. "Oi, Marco! Get up!" he shouted, shaking a bit from fear. He was getting no response whatsoever from Marco. On closer inspection, he saw that there was a bruise on the right side of his head, and his gear was also missing. "MARCO!" he shouted again.

The sight of him hurt and unconscious left nothing but fear in Jean's mind. He'd failed to protect him again, this time when it counted the most.

"M-Marco, please! What happened?!"

Worst case scenario, Marco had fallen from one of the buildings and seriously hurt himself. Whoever that person was that had just taken down Levi's friends had obviously done this to him.

Taking the boy's head into his shaking hands, Jean pulled him close and grabbed his obsidian-colored hair in between his fingers. He could feel the guilt eating away at him.

For him, this was Hell.

"SOMEBODY!" he cried out, hoping Armin or Mikasa or even Eren would come to help him with Marco.

Eyes watering, he closed them and buried his nose in the boy's hair. Taking deep breaths through gritted teeth, Jean tried imagining what he would do if Marco didn't wake up. Then he grew angry at the person who had caused this. What the hell was the point of them doing this anyway?

"J-Jean… you're hurting me…" Marco's voice sounded faintly and somewhat femininely.

Opening his eyes and pulling back a bit, said man let his tears run down his face uncontrollably when Marco came to.

"Marco!"

"Jean…"

Still holding Marco protectively, Jean jumped when he saw a shadow coming down from the rooftop.

"What happened?!"

It was Armin. He used his Maneuver Gear to hurry down to Jean and Marco, and then gasped when he saw the bruise on the side of Marco's head.

"Armin…" Jean mumbled. He didn't even care that there were tears still running down his cheeks. All that mattered was that Marco was okay.

"Mikasa almost managed to catch that person, but they got away."

Marco jumped and felt his heart start racing when Jean got close to him. "Jean…"

"Marco seems to have been the first to encounter that person… The others are okay, too. But they have a lot of injuries from the looks of it."

"Where are Erwin and Levi?" Jean asked.

"They didn't know what was going on because they were on the court, and Professor Hanji arrived to talk to them. But now they're helping the others. I think they'll need to go to the hospital."

Looking down at Marco, Jean decided he'd take him as well. "Marco, I'll take you there-"

"N-no. I'm fine." Said boy assured Jean, and then sat up while holding the side of his head.

"Marco-"

"I mean it… I'll be okay. I was only hit in the head."

"I'm going to go and let the others know you're both okay." Armin said, before he used his gear to get up to the rooftop. "Can you take care of Marco?" he asked Jean.

"Yeah! I'll get him home! You make sure Mikasa, Jaeger, and the others are taken care of!" Jean replied.

"Kay!"

With a heavy sigh of relief, Jean wiped his eyes and tried to pretend like he wasn't upset or frightened… or previously crying… He had to be strong in front of Marco.

"Thank you for helping me…" Marco said as he and Jean made their way to his car.

After helping his freckle-cheeked friend into the car when they reached it, Jean inwardly thanked the gods that he was okay. "It's no problem. I'm just glad you're okay." He replied.

"… I swear I don't even really know what happened. It's just black…"

"Do you need to go home?" Jean asked as he took off his Maneuver Gear and put it in the back of Erwin's truck.

"Well, I brought my clothes with me to change into for the play-"

"That doesn't mean anything. I'm taking you home."

"No, I need to go… It's for a grade, and tonight's the last showing."

"Gah… So you're going?"

"Yeah. Do you not want to go? I can take the-"

"I'm going." Jean insisted, and then started his car.

There was no way he wasn't going.


	6. Soft Lips

**Early update!**

Soft Lips

* * *

"Oh, you brought your friend back!? I wasn't expecting to see him again!" Jean's mother said with a pleasantly surprised look on her face when Marco and her son entered the house.

"Hi, Ms. Kirstein." Marco greeted.

"Goodness! What happened to you!?" she shouted when she saw the bump on the side of the boy's head. "Did Jean hit you?! Jean! What have I told you about-"

"No, no! You've got it all wrong! He's been helping me! Something bad happened at dodgeball today, and he offered to take me to the hospital and everything!"

"Oh dear!" the woman said, and then walked over and put her hand on the bump.

"Mom, he's okay." Jean said as he walked through the living and dining rooms, heading to his own room.

"Jean, help this boy! Clean his injury up for him!"

Rolling his eyes, said man headed into the hallway. "Come with me, Marco." He said.

"K-kay!"

"Be more careful, dear!" Jean's mother said to Marco as he followed Jean. "Oh, and by the way Jean, your dad and I are carving pumpkins with the Hepburns tomorrow! You're welcome to join us!"

Stepping into the bathroom and flipping the light switch, then closing the door when Marco entered, Jean sighed. He knew that was coming. By "welcome to join us", she meant "you need to get out on the weekends and be social with the kids who'll be there who are all half your age".

Marco walked over to the toilet, let the lid down, and then took a seat on it.

Jean was reminded that he was supposed to take care of that wound, so he went over to the medicine cabinet and took out some peroxide, cotton balls, and Neosporin. He didn't really know what to do for a bump on the head, so he figured just cleaning it would be okay.

After kneeling in front of Marco, he uncapped the peroxide and then put one of the cotton balls on top of it. Turning the bottle over, he let some of it leak onto the fluffy ball, then put the peroxide on the counter beside his freckled friend.

"This may sting a little." He said almost apologetically.

"I know, you goose. I've used peroxide before."

Not too pleased with Marco's response, Jean lifted the cotton ball and started rubbing it against the bump in the boy's hair.

Marco closed his eyes and breathed in through gritted teeth from the sting he was warned about.

"Told you." Jean mumbled, as he continued his ministrations. He felt a little guilty causing his friend pain, but it was necessary to help him heal.

"I'm sorry, Jean…" Marco opened his eyes and said when Jean stopped using the cotton ball on him. Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes and he knew it.

"Huh? What are you sorry for?" said man asked as he put some Neosporin onto the other cotton ball he'd gotten.

"Well, this was your first dodgeball game, and it was completely ruined…"

"_That's_ what you're sorry about? It's okay, let me assure you." Jean said, and then looked back up at the other. His eyes went wide when he saw a tear run down Marco's cheek. "Oi, Marco- don't- I told you it was okay!"

"B-but you were crying!" Marco said.

"I was not!"

"Jean-"

"… _Fine_! I was! But you wanna know why I was crying? I was mad 'cuz I couldn't protect you… and scared that… shit…"

Marco inhaled and held his breath for a second, "…What?"

"Marco, seeing you on the ground like that… I didn't know… I just didn't know anything… And I hate that I wasn't there for you to help you. Whoever did that to you needs a fucking knife through the heart."

Missing the hidden meaning behind Jean's frustration, Marco allowed the shame of that moment fall on his shoulders because he wasn't able to defend himself, yet again.

"But anyway, you're okay now. You wanna go check on everyone after the play is over?"

After nodding, Marco brought one of his hands up and wiped his eyes. "Yeah."

"Okay."

Feeling his stomach churn when Jean smiled up at him, Marco blushed. He opened his arms and held them out, wanting nothing more than to hug him.

Jean looked down to the floor, having some reservations about what was being offered, but leaned in and hugged Marco anyway. When Marco fell forward onto him, causing them both to fall to the floor, he couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you for your help, Jean."

"Any time, Marco."

* * *

Lying on his bed and flipping through the channels to try finding something good to watch, Jean waited for Marco to change into the clothes he'd brought with him for the play.

Did people really need to dress up for plays?

He didn't think about it until now, but it'd probably be a good idea for him to put something on to look nice as well.

Damn Marco for making him want to look appropriate.

Getting up, he walked over to his closet and slid his clothes that were on hangers until he came across one of his dress shirts. It was dark blue, and looked nice enough to wear, so he pulled it out and decided to wear it.

There was no need for him to look like he was going to a wedding or a ball, so he decided on a pair of dark blue jeans for his bottoms.

After taking his clothes that he'd worn to dodgeball off, he put them into his dirty clothes hamper and then took his shirt off the hanger.

When he heard his door open, he jumped and quickly covered himself, even though he was still perfectly covered in his underwear.

Marco's eyes went wide when he saw a half-naked Jean, who was glowing red in the face and standing in front of the closet, staring at him with a horrified look on his face.

"S-sorry!" he said, and promptly closed the door again.

"Knock next time!"

Jean put his clothes on and then tidied his hair up a bit in front of his mirror. Looking down to the cologne sitting on his dresser that he'd gotten as a present from one of his aunts, which he had yet to open and use, he figured he would wear it tonight. Not for anyone in particular, but why not smell nice?

After spritzing himself at his neck, torso, and under his arms, he put the bottle down and then walked over to his door. Marco was standing with a very embarrassed expression on his face, and his freckles were drowned in a rosy red glow.

"Well don't you two look nice!"

Jean turned and saw his mother coming down the hallway with Snuggles in her arms. Marco averted his eyes when he looked back at him.

"Yeah, we're going to see a play at school."

"Jean, you're going out so much these days! You've really come a long way since last year!"

"Thanks, mom. We gotta get going. It starts at seven."

"Okay well don't let me keep you. Have a good time, and be safe."

"Right."

"Love you, hun."

Jean blushed and started walking to the front door. Marco smiled at the woman, and hurried after his friend.

"Jean Kirstein!" his mother said, standing with an expectant look that didn't even need to be seen by her son.

"… Love you too, mom!" said man replied, and then quickly exited the house.

"See you around, Ms. Kirstein!"

"Have fun and watch out for Jean, Marco."

Once he and Marco were situated in his car, he started it up and then made sure to turn the radio onto a good station, then pulled out of the driveway. It was about time for them to get to school, otherwise they'd be late.

* * *

In his dress shirt, that he was nearly too brawny for, Reiner sat in the lobby of the English building, just outside the theater. He'd gotten here early, hoping to beat Bertholdt here. However, he jumped when the tall man crept over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Bertholdt?! What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was assigned to help with the lighting, remember?"

"Oh, right. Like the _lucky_ people in the class, all I had to do was come here and write a critique for this thing." Reiner grinned.

"It wasn't so bad. Now I'm not the one stuck writing a six page paper by Tuesday." Bertholdt smiled. "By the way, you look… nice… Reiner…"

"Thanks. You look nice too, Bertholdt. Really nice. …Hey, you don't think this shirt is too small on me, do you?"

"No. And don't you like showing off your muscles?"

"You know I do. But the one I want to show them off to doesn't even know I'm doing it for them."

Bertholdt took a seat beside the shorter man. "Reiner… when are you ever going to tell me who this mystery person is?"

"One day I will..."

"Is it Christa?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Well, if it _is_ her, you're gonna have a tough time getting her from Ymir." Bertholdt grinned and nudged the other with his elbow.

Reiner looked away. "Shut up…" he mumbled with a blush.

"You know, I think we can go into the theater now. Why are you sitting out here?"

"I was waiting for you."

"Oh! I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. We were doing some last minute repairs on the set."

"Let's go in." Reiner said, standing and subtly adjusting his dick in his pants.

"I saw that." Bertholdt commented. "You could've waited until we were in the theater where it's darker."

"Leave it alone!" the blonde blushed, yet again.

* * *

"Marco, do we need to pick up tickets? Or can we just go in?" Jean asked, holding the door to the English Building open for said boy.

"I already got them. We can just go into the theater."

"Cool. Cuz that ticket line is getting long."

"There's fifteen minutes before the show starts. Of course there's gonna be a line, you goose." The taller boy said as he walked up the stairs.

He missed a step and fell forward, but before he could fall onto the concrete, Jean moved fast and caught him by grabbing his shoulders. "Oi, be careful!"

"I-I'm sorry. I just feel a bit hazy is all…"

Jean looked at the bump on Marco's head and sighed. "Just please be more careful, Marco. I don't want you getting hurt or anything."

"Right."

After guiding him up the last few stairs, Jean let Marco walk on his own through the lobby and into the theater, past the ticket girl who seemed very bored with her job. "Wanna grab those seats right there?" he asked, pointing to the open seats next to a blonde guy who had his head turned.

"Sure."

Awkwardly, the two of them brushed past the few people who were already in their seats, then reached the two available ones.

Jean sat down first, then Marco did.

"K-Kirstein?"

Both Jean and Marco turned to see Reiner and Bertholdt staring at them curiously.

"Braun?" Jean mimicked said man's tone and bulky disposition, making sure to straighten his back and stick out his chest to appear the way muscular men do.

"Jean, stop." Marco insisted.

"What are you doing here?" Reiner continued.

"Marco invited me. It's for his class."

"You're in our class, aren't you?" Bertholdt asked Marco.

"Yeah."

"You could have come with us." Reiner said.

"Well, I wanted to invite Jean. He's fun to hang out with."

"You're kidding, right?" the bulky blonde asked with a grin.

"Oi, I'm sitting _right here_!" Jean said, raising his hands in a 'what the hell' kind of way.

"I know."

"Reiner…" Bertholdt mumbled, putting his hand on the man's shoulder gently.

Reiner sighed. He could never resist Bertholdt's gentle insistence. "Right… Uh, enjoy the show, Marco. You don't fall asleep." He said, aiming the last statement at Jean.

"There's a Jaeger everywhere I go…" Jean commented.

Before Reiner could say anything in retort, the lights started dimming and people started shushing other people, ironically making the most noise in the theater.

The show began after the stage lit up, and the actress who was playing Nora appeared on stage.

* * *

For most of the play, Jean found himself a bit bored. The only thing he was interested in was the pretty girl playing the lead role… or, what he assumed to be the lead role.

Marco's arm brushed against his on the armrest, and he thought nothing of it. Marco, however, quietly apologized. It happened a few times, and Jean, to prove just how comfortable he was, reached over and wrapped his arm around the taller boy's shoulder, pulling him close.

He leaned in and got close to Marco's ear, "It's fine." He whispered. "Or do you want me to stay like this?"

"N-no. Don't." the freckle-cheeked boy blushed in the dark. Not that he didn't want Jean to stay that way, it was just incredibly awkward.

To be honest, Connie was right. He did like Jean. He liked him a lot. But their friendship was so important to him. They'd only just gotten comfortable around each other. He didn't want to jeopardize what they'd built together.

When Jean removed his arm, Marco sighed almost silently. He had to keep himself from getting aroused or anything. This was not the place or the time for anything like that.

Reiner turned to Bertholdt when the lighting changed. "You did pretty good." He whispered after getting close to the taller man.

"It wasn't just me…"

"Jeez, take the compliment." Reaching down, he took the other's leg into his large hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Okay, thank you…!" Bertholdt whispered, putting his hand on top of Reiner's to try unclenching it from his leg. "Were your hands always so hairy?" he asked.

Reiner pulled his hand up to his nose and looked it over. "Those are _baby_ hairs, and it's not even that big a deal." He said, unaware that he'd just been had.

Marco had been keeping a somewhat watchful eye on the two of them, just to verify that they weren't together or anything like Connie proposed shortly after thinking they liked each other. While Reiner did seem very touchy when it came to Bertholdt, and while Bertholdt talked with Reiner more tonight than he'd ever seen him talk since freshman year, nothing seemed out of the ordinary between them.

But just because he didn't think they were together, it didn't mean he stopped himself from thinking they'd make a cute couple.

"Is there something on my face?" Jean asked, raising an eyebrow at Marco, who was now looking in his direction.

"O-oh, no. Sorry. I was just… uh, making sure you weren't asleep."

A bit offended, Jean folded his arms. "Don't you berate me, too."

"I wasn't, I promise."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

After the play ended and everyone gave their standing ovations, Jean climbed over his seat and suggested Marco do the same.

"Are you in a hurry?" the freckle-having boy asked as he did the same.

"I want to go check on everyone before I take you home." Jean replied.

"But… visiting hours are probably over."

"If I know Mikasa, she's still in Eren's room. Armin is probably there, too. We can get one of them to sneak us in."

"Haha, like spies!" Marco grinned. He seemed a bit excited now at the thought of being sneaked into a hospital.

"Let's go."

"Right behind you!"

* * *

And just as Jean thought, Armin answered his phone when Marco called him, and he and Mikasa were still in Eren's room.

"Ask Jaeger why he needs to stay in a hospital. He was only hit in the face by the back of someone's hand." Jean said, getting closer to Marco so he could be heard over the phone.

Marco shushed him and stepped away from him a bit.

Jean didn't care for that, so he got close to the taller boy and started reaching for the phone. Marco lifted it into the air and backed away, but he eventually found himself against a wall with Jean right in front of him, reaching for his phone.

"Armin! We'll meet you at the elevators!" he said, before pressing the red button on his screen.

Jean used one of his hands to hold Marco's arms in place above his head, "You couldn't let me talk, could you?" he asked.

Marco grinned, "Nope!" he said.

When Jean's hand slid up his shirt, he blushed and his eyes grew wide. "Jean, what are you-oh god!" he started laughing very hard when Jean started tickling him.

"Take it outside, you two." A security guard said, coming their way with a flashlight in hand.

Thinking fast, because this guy was obviously not going to let them meet Armin, Jean released one of Marco's hands, then pulled him away quickly by the other. The security guard shouted for them to stop, and stated chasing after them.

Heart racing, after rounding a corner, Jean ducked off into a closet that was conveniently open, and pulled Marco inside with him.

It was dark, and very cramped. Probably a broom closet or something.

With Marco right up against him, breathing hard, he lifted his hand and put it over the boy's mouth when he heard the security guard's footsteps hurrying down the hallway.

"Yeah, keep an eye out for them." He heard him say as he fast-walked past the closet.

"That was so much fun." Marco said into Jean's hand, making the other take it down after realizing he was depriving him of the oxygen he needed to regulate his breathing.

"Let's go meet Armin. He'll probably get caught if he's standing around waiting for us for too long.

"Mhmm!"

Opening the door, Jean looked around to make sure the coast was clear before he and Marco made their way to the elevators on the other side of the hospital.

…

"There you guys are." Armin said when he saw the JeanMarco duo approaching, and then came out from hiding behind the nurses' desk that was beside the elevator. "The guards have all been much more active, talking about two teenagers who were running around the hospital."

"What?! I'm twenty-one years old!"

"And I'm twenty!" Marco added.

"They don't care about that, and I doubt they could tell from just chasing you two how old you are." Armin commented. "Let's get to the fifth floor. That's where Eren's room is."

"Right behind you, Armin." Marco said.

"Yeah, I'd hate to get caught after all this." Jean commented.

…

When the door to Eren's room opened, Jean was the first to walk in. He was grabbed into a sleeper hold, however, the moment he did.

"Mikasa, it's Jean!" Armin said.

Mikasa released Jean, apologizing for manhandling him in such a way.

"What are you grabbing people for, Mikasa?" Jean asked, rubbing his neck soothingly.

Said girl took a seat next to Eren's bed, where Eren was sleeping, and looked at him. "The person who did this is still out there. And I don't know who they are, or why they did it. So you can imagine someone just walking in besides Armin or anyone in a doctor's jacket would be a potential threat."

Armin and Marco entered the room, then once the door closed, Armin walked over to the window and opened the curtains to let the moonlight flood the room. "Marco, how are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm okay. I had to attend the play at school, so I couldn't go with you all to take everyone to the hospital."

"You were attacked, too. You should have been seen by the doctor."

"Marco is just disregarding himself for everyone else." Jean commented.

"The others are fine, too. Gunther-san has a slight concussion, Petra-san, Oluo-san, and Erd-san all have a few fractured ribs. But luckily no one died."

"Who would do this…?" Mikasa asked to no one in particular while staring down at Eren's sleeping form.

"I don't know… I can't see a reason for anyone to do something like this." Armin answered. Looking up to Jean, he smiled. "I'm glad you didn't get hurt. You were so brave."

"I wasn't really, but thanks for trying." Jean said. He walked over to Eren's bed and saw the bruise on his forehead where he'd been backhanded and held in a laugh. While he felt like the dipshit deserved this, he was also glad he was okay. Life would be a lot less interesting if he disappeared. Who would he argue and fight with if he did? "Hey, we just came to see that you all were okay. But it's kinda late, and I have to take Marco home, so I'll see you guys on Monday."

"Right. Thanks for your concern, Jean. And thanks for stopping by." Mikasa said with a smile.

"Yeah, and get home safe." Armin added, now seated at the foot of Eren's bed.

"Good night, guys." Marco said after Jean left the room. He waved and then went out after him, closing the door behind himself.

…

"You hungry or anything?" Jean asked when they finally got outside away from the roaming security.

"Not really. Besides, it's late. Most places are probably operating at a lower standard of customer service than they do during the day."

"Alright. Then let's get on the road." The shorter man continued, heading to where he parked his car.

"No speeding please!" Marco insisted.

…

The further from the city Jean and Marco got on the highway, the more stars were visible to them. And as he drove, Jean tried keeping his attention on the road, instead of up at the sky, or on Marco.

"Did you like the play?"

"Yeah, it was cool. Too bad we got stuck next to Ernie and Bert."

Marco giggled, "No, no! I can't believe you said that too!"

"What?" Jean asked with a grin on his face.

"Connie said the same thing about them!" the freckled-boy continued as he calmed his fit of giggles.

"They seem like it, don't they? Reiner is Bert, of course."

After the conversation seemed to die, Marco decided to change the subject. He'd been having a very nice day with Jean, apart from the dodgeball incident, and he wanted the night to be just as nice. "Hey, I'm proud of you for not asking Mikasa out." He said with a smile.

"…Well we did talk about this. I'm giving her a break, and judging from that inescapable sleeper hold she had me in, it'll be a looooong break."

"I'm glad you went in first. I might have not made it through something like that."

"You're so soft, Marco."

"You think that, but I have four brothers, all older than me. Trust me when I say I can handle myself."

"So what happened today at dodgeball?" Jean asked as he rounded the corner that led into Marco's neighborhood.

Marco touched the bump on the side of his head, "I got caught off guard… It was all my fault everyone got hurt…" he replied solemnly.

"How do you figure?"

"Well, if they hadn't stolen my gear, none of that would have happened. I was careless, and I never saw them coming."

Pulling up in front of Marco's house, Jean stopped and turned to his friend. "Don't think that way. I'm sure if it wasn't you, whoever it was would have gone for someone else."

"…" Marco turned to Jean with a thankful look on his face, yet he couldn't say anything. All he could do was stare and wonder when straight guys got so nice. When Jean came his way, he blushed and his eyes went wide. "Wh-what are you doing?!"

Jean grabbed he boy by the chin and turned his head so he could look at the bump on his head again. "Does that still bother you?" he asked, putting his fingers against it gently.

"Yeah, but I'm okay… really."

"Good."

When Jean pulled away, Marco leaned over and grabbed him into a hug, squeezing him around his neck tightly as if he never wanted to let him go.

Jean was surprised about the forced contact, but did not push the boy away. Instead, he just sat there awkwardly, accepting his hug. He almost brought his hands up to return it, but stopped when Marco pulled away slightly.

"Thank you for everything, Jean. And please… don't cry for me anymore. I hate seeing tears in your eyes, and I don't deserve them." Marco whispered in his ear.

Just when he thought it was over, Jean's light brown eyes went wide and he jumped when Marco kissed him on the cheek. A shiver ran up his spine with those soft lips pressed gently against his skin, and his world froze temporarily.

The look on Marco's face when he pulled away said he completely regretted doing it, and he apologized immediately. "I'm so sorry, Jean!"

Jean watched as he got out of the car and hurried up the sidewalk to his front door.

"Marco! Marco, wait!" he called out the window of his car.

Marco did not listen. Instead, he unlocked the door, went inside his house, and then closed the door so he could lean on it with all his weight. Breathing heavily with heartbeats so strong they threatened to break through his ribcage, he slid to the floor and closed his eyes.

After he heard Jean pull away from his house, he made to get up. However, Maggie, the Collie his oldest sister adopted a long time ago, came over to him. It was just who he needed. Opening his arms, he was glad when she came over to him and let him hug her.

Ruined. He'd ruined what he and Jean had. And that brought tears to his eyes. With Maggie in his arms, he let his tears escape and fall onto her warm, inviting fur. He felt guilty, stupid, and miserable all at the same time.

"_I never should have kissed him! But even more than that, I never should have let him drive me around and get close to me… but… God… I'm… I'm in love with Jean."_ He thought.


	7. The Dream, the Vine, and the Lust

**Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I can't say I was going for cute lol, but I guess I can't help but write these two to be that way. Enjoy the chapter.**

The Dream, the Vine, and the Lust

* * *

The next morning.

When he felt his phone vibrate under his pillow, Jean fully woke from the phase he usually found himself in over the weekends, where he was in and out of sleep for about forty minutes.

After reaching under his pillow and pulling his phone out, he saw that he had received a message from Marco.

_I'm taking the bus to school on Monday. Please don't come to pick me up._

"…What the hell did I do to be treated this way?" he asked aloud, still a bit tired and bleary as he tried figuring things out. He'd honestly done nothing hurtful to Marco, so why was he acting like this?

_Are you okay dude? _He sent him.

No reply.

He sent the message again.

No reply.

Fine, if Marco was going to be this way, then he'd be the same. The last thing he needed was to be stressed out about whatever was going on with him.

A knock at his door made him quickly pull the covers over his head and curl up. It was a bit cold in his room, so he could get away with pretending to be sleeping with the blankets so high.

"Jean, mom says get up." His dad said.

There was no way his dad was falling for his pretending to be asleep routine. "Tell her I don't feel good." Said man replied groggily.

"Look, I don't want to go carving pumpkins either, but we do it to make her happy. If she's happy, everyone and everything else in this house is happy." With that said, Jean's father closed the door and went on his way down the hallway.

"Fuck…" Jean lamented. This just wasn't his weekend.

* * *

As he sat alone outside the Hepburns' house, Jean played with the knife in his hand that he'd used to carve about five of the many pumpkins his mom wanted to take home for Halloween.

Some kids ran outside, one of them bumping into him and telling him to get out of the way, then started playing around in the front yard. Jean almost dropped his knife from being run into, but caught it just in time. Part of him wanted to get up and slap the one who ran into him, but the better part of him that knew what his parents and Marco would say about it made him decide against it.

"Jean, are you okay?"

Jean turned when he heard his father coming out onto the porch with that question.

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine. You've been moping around all day."

"I'm fine, dad."

"We're heading home in a while, your mom just wanted to catch up with Judy."

"Isn't that the lady who drank too much wine and passed out at our Christmas party last year?"

"Yeah, but don't say that too loud. She's been to rehab since then, and says she's been drinking responsibly for a few months now."

Jean looked out to the kids playing in the yard and sighed. Then he noticed that one of them had freckles.

"Well, you can stay out here with the kids if you want. I'm gonna go smoke a cigar from Ed."

"Think I can smoke one, too?"

"What have both your mom and I told you?"

"*sigh*No smoking or drinking allowed." When his father nodded and headed back inside, Jean rolled his eyes, "Even though mom drinks and you smoke all the time…" he said under his breath.

* * *

Monday morning.

Jean woke up early. A little too early. When he opened his eyes, he'd been greeted by a dark and cold room. His mother must have forgotten to turn on the heat last night. The weather lady had said it was going to cool down quite a bit, and it was about time considering it was the last week in October.

Quickly getting out from under his sheets, he grabbed some underclothes from his dresser and then hurried to the bathroom to take a shower, making sure to turn the heater switch inside it on before getting undressed.

The bottle of Peroxide was still on the counter, making him think about Marco for a moment. He hoped he was okay, but if he was intent on ignoring his texts, then there was really nothing he could do.

All he _did_ know was that class would be awkward today…

After showering and getting ready for the day, making sure to put on a nice sweater, with a collared shirt on underneath it, and a pair of clean pants, Jean made some Toaster's Strudel and left the house.

Today, he didn't need to pick Marco up, so once he let his car warm up, he headed right on to campus.

* * *

Arriving to class fifteen minutes early was something Jean had grown used to. What he wasn't used to was seeing Connie and Armin sitting in the classroom.

"Morning, Jean." Connie said.

"Hey guys." He greeted as he walked to his seat. "Where's Jaeger?" he asked Armin once he sat down.

"He's eating in the cafeteria."

Connie looked at Armin. "How's he doing? I heard about what happened on Friday. Glad I missed dodgeball…"

"He's fine. Though, Mikasa made him wear gauze around his head because he actually hit it on the ground pretty hard when he fell…" the blonde answered.

Jean smirked. "I can imagine he _loves_ that."

"Loves what?" Eren asked as he came into the room. He was indeed wearing gauze.

"Eren! I'm so glad you're alive, man!" Connie shouted.

Taking a seat in between Armin and Connie, Eren raised his thumb. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

Connie turned, "Hey, Jean…"

"What?"

"Where's Marco? Don't you usually bring him to school? Did you forget him?! You jerk!"

"I didn't forget him. He wanted to-"

"I'm right here."

Eren, Connie, Armin, and Jean all turned their attention to Marco as he came to the back of the classroom and took his seat beside Jean.

"Marco, I heard you got hit by the Cloaked Flash!" Connie said.

"… I'm fine, Connie."

"Good thing! What would we do without our freckled Jesus?"

"Cloaked Flash?" Armin repeated questionably.

"Yeah. People are already talking about it, and that's what they named the culprit."

Just then Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie all entered the classroom and took their seats in the front of the classroom.

"You and Jean have a fight?" Connie asked Marco. "You two are always together, so it's weird seeing you apart for even a few seconds."

"N-no!" the freckled-boy replied.

Jean watched as Armin looked over his shoulder at Marco with a sympathetically knowing look on his face.

"Good morning, Jean." Marco said once Connie and Eren started talking about deciding which next gen gaming system they were getting, and what exclusives were worth the buy. He hadn't been able to greet him properly when he first came in.

"Morning." Said man replied.

There was some awkwardness between them, mostly on Jean's end, and it was obvious to the both of them. For a few minutes, they sat beside each other in complete silence.

"Oi, so you guys are coming to my Halloween party on Thursday, right?" Connie asked.

"Hell yeah!" Eren shouted with a grin.

Armin jumped when Connie leaned over Eren and got in his face. "If I don't have anything to study for, I guess I can go." The blonde said after sweatdropping.

"Dude, it's Thursday night. You can take a break once on the weekend."

"…I guess."

"And what about you two?"

Marco paused, thinking it over for a second. "I can go." He replied.

"Yeah, I guess I can go, too. I don't have to dress up, do I?" Jean asked.

"Nah. We're not kids anymore."

"Fine, I'll go."

With a satisfied grin, Connie turned back around and then pulled out his phone, probably to invite more people to his party.

Professor Hanji walked in at eight o'clock on the dot, and after asking Marco to report to the main office, she started writing her notes for the day on the board.

Jean watched as Marco got up and left the room. And all he could think about was how he had kissed him last Friday night. He didn't know exactly what it meant… not that he hadn't tried to figure it out…

…

Marco ended up coming back at the end of class when almost everyone had left the classroom. Jean was still jotting down the last of the day's notes when he came in, and he decided that he would talk to him about Friday.

"Marco, can I talk to you?" he asked when Marco came to get his things.

"Um, yeah."

"Cool. Let's go outside."

"Alrighty." After picking up his notebook and putting it into his booksack, he followed Jean out of the classroom and down the hallway.

They both took seats on the bench near the building, under a tree that was turning some of the many colors trees usually did in autumn.

"Marco…" Jean began, looking up at some of the students walking in and out of the building a bit ahead of them.

"Jean, I'm sorry for kissing you. Really, I am."

"It's… it's okay. I'm not mad at you or anything. It just caught me by surprise is all."

"It won't happen again. I promise."

"So why did you take the bus to school this morning?"

"I… I thought you might not want to be around me for a while. Plus, I had to stop by the bio lab to drop off a paper to my professor."

Jean shook his head and leaned forward, resting his arms on his lower thighs. "Don't be ridiculous."

"You don't be ridiculous."

"…Don't be _that guy_, Marco."

"You don't be _that guy_, Jean."

"You don't… you don't have freckles!" Jean ordered.

Marco's eyes went wide and he didn't offer any rebuttal. There was a silence, and a surprised look on his face that refused to flee.

Jean was actually afraid he'd gone too far, said something too emotionally wounding, until the other started laughing.

"Hahahahahaha! That's such a good comeback!"

Smiling that he hadn't crossed the line, which he made a point never to cross, ever, Jean changed the subject to a more important one. "What did you get called out of class for?"

"Oh, they wanted my statement from the dodgeball incident. I couldn't tell them much, but I wound up talking to a few different investigators about it."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Hey, you need a ride home later?"

"…Well… the bus is still running-"

"I'm taking you home."

"Okay."

Jean smiled, yet again. He was glad that he hadn't lost one of his closest friends. Marco meant a lot to him. The thought of them being awkward around each other, or their friendship ending over a silly kiss on the cheek seemed incredibly stupid to him.

"Well, I guess we should get to our next classes." He said.

"You'll be late."

"You will too, genius."

"Nuh-uh, I'll just say I was being questioned by the detectives." Marco said with a grin.

"M-Marco... you're a bad student, aren't you?"

"I make good grades, and that's what really matters, haha."

Jean raised an eyebrow then stood up, "… I'll see you for lunch." He told the boy.

"Gotcha."

* * *

Thursday around two o'clock in the morning.

"Marco… what are you…"

"Jean… I want you…" said man spoke heavily, moving closer to Jean on his bed.

Jean backed up against the headboard, then put his hand out to stop Marco's advance. He was confused about where this had come from, just like he was when he'd been kissed that night.

Marco took Jean's hand into his, and then gently put his lips on it. Putting it down, he moved forward and pressed his lips against Jean's.

At first, Jean was surprised. Scared even. His heart was racing a mile a minute, but he did not push Marco away. Something about this was just… nice. Unexpected, but somehow needed. It had been a long time since anyone had been this close with him.

When Marco's hand ventured lower and found its way to his belt, he closed his eyes.

The sound of his belt being undone filled the somewhat quiet room, and it was a reminder of just how far he and Marco were going. So he put his hand onto Marco's before he could reach into his pants.

"Don't stop me, please Jean."

"Marco…"

"I need you to let me keep going."

"…O… okay…"

The feeling of a warm hand creeping into his underwear made Jean moan. When his penis was taken into Marco's hand, he blushed. The feeling of Marco's thumb running back and forth along the tip gently caused him to grow erect.

Soft lips soon found their way against his own, making him feel very… _wanted_.

"N-no… uh… mmmmm." Jean moaned, cumming against his own will.

Eyes shooting open, he sat up and looked around, breathing heavily, while looking for Marco in the darkness of his room.

"Marco…!" he called, just low enough so his parents wouldn't hear.

No matter how much he wanted to find him, Marco was nowhere to be seen in his room.

Jean was soon reminded of how wet his underwear were when he made to get out of his bed. And then it hit him like a wrecking ball. "I had a wet dream about Marco…?" he asked, aiming the question at himself because he was in such disbelief about it.

* * *

And so the first part of the day went by, Jean not seeing Marco for any of it. He'd received a message from him saying not to pick him up today because he needed to get to school early to prepare for an exam he had today.

So Jean was left to himself for most of the day.

His first two classes, he was so out of it. All he could think about was Marco.

Marco. Marco. Marco.

That name and that freckled face thrashed about in his mind, not giving him a moment's rest in the least. It had been so bad that while taking notes in his Spanish class, he'd actually written Marco's name down in his notebook. The actual name of the person they'd been discussing was Marcel.

It was mental torture.

As he walked out of the class he had which let out right before lunch, he couldn't help but wonder just what he would say to Marco when he saw him. What did his dream mean? Did he now want to have sex with Marco?

It occurred to him that this was the result of the freckled-man laying lips on him.

"Yo, Jean!"

Said man turned and saw Connie coming his way.

"Connie…"

"What's up with you, dude? You look like shit today."

"Thanks. Glad to know I don't look like shit every other day." Jean replied, feelings slightly hurt for reasons unknown to him.

Connie came up beside him and elbowed him. "Have a late night or something?" he teased.

"No… Where's Sasha? Aren't you two always together?"

"She's doing something in the school's kitchen lab thingy. She'll join us for lunch soon."

Jean sighed. But if he had to be faced with Marco soon, better it be with Connie than alone.

* * *

"A- a chicken patty?!"

"Yeah. I eat other things besides burgers, you know." Jean said to his shorter friend.

Connie took a seat with his plateful of pizza. "I'm surprised."

"Oi, Connie…"

"Hm?"

"Do you ever… uh… jeez…" Jean didn't realize asking something like what he wanted to ask was so uncomfortable.

"Spit it out."

"I am…" Swallowing a mouthful of his own saliva, Jean let his question come out, "Do you ever have wet dreams?"

Connie's eyes went wide and he stopped lifting his slice of pizza midair. "You had a wet dream?" he asked.

"Maybe. I'm asking you if you ever do."

"Well yeah, sometimes. It's natural and happens from time to time."

"Do you know what it means?"

"I'm assuming you had one. And yeah, I know what it means. I could give you a scientific definition, but I'll just stick to the basics."

Jean squinted. "Okay."

"Basically, you're dreaming about something you want. Something that excites you sexually, and in some cases, it's something you don't want to admit excites you. It is a dream, and in dreams, our subconscious takes over and has a field day. It's also completely involuntary and happens when there is a lack of sexual release. Now I want to ask you… who did you dream about?"

"Jean, Connie!" Marco greeted with a smile as he came over to the table with his plate of lasagna.

Sasha wasn't far behind him, and when they reached the table, they took a seat. Marco sat beside Jean, and she sat beside Connie.

"What are you two talking about?" Sasha asked.

"Jean had a wet dream." Connie replied.

Everyone looked at Jean, who looked at Connie with a death glare. He turned away and rested his cheek on the palm of his hand.

"Was it about Mikasa?" Sasha asked.

"Guys, I think he's embarrassed…" Marco said. Moving closer, he put his hand on Jean's shoulder.

When Jean pulled away and avoided looking at Marco, Connie knew who it was who had invaded Jean's dreams and wet up his sheets last night.

Once he at his lasagna, Marco got up to go get some more food. It was then that Connie spoke. "You dreamt about Marco, didn't you?" he asked the light brown-haired man sitting across from him.

Sasha's brown eyes went wide and she stared at Jean.

"Leave me alone, Connie."

"Aw, come on! Something this big happens and you want me to leave you alone? I'm curious! What happened in the dream? How soaked were you when you woke up?"

"Connie, be more sympathetic!" Sasha said. "Jean, it's okay to dream about other people."

"Yeah, but Marco is a guy." Jean stated, watching said man as he stood in the burger line and talked to a random girl.

"Maybe it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't have to unless you make it."

"Sasha, it's different for guys than it is for girls. Do girls even have wet dreams?"

"Be quiet, Connie! You're making this worse."

"Look, Jean, I'm not judging you at all. If you are starting to find Marco exciting in _that_ way, that's fine. He's a cool guy."

"Y'know… if I was a boy, or if he was into girls, I'd date him. He's real sweet." Sasha said. "Oh, and don't take out your frustrations on him. He didn't tell you to dream about him."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't-"

"You pulled away from 'im like he had a disease when he was only tryna make you feel better a few minutes ago. He don't deserve to be treated like that, especially not by his best friend."

"…"

"Don't be mean to Marco, dude. He's way too nice for that. Maybe he's too nice for _you_." Connie said with a grin.

"Shut up…"

"Jean, what would you do if Marco got a boyfriend? How would you feel about that? You probably wouldn't spend too much time with him, huh?"

"Connie, you can't force Jean into liking Marco. Especially not since he don't like guys." Sasha said.

"Well, that's not what his subconscious has told us."

"Jean, are you okay?" Marco asked as he came back to the table with his food.

Connie and Sasha both stopped talking and started wondering what things Jean did with the sweet and innocent Marco in his dream.

"I'm fine." Jean replied, avoiding eye contact as best he could without seeming obvious about it.

Sasha smiled at him and Connie had a knowing look on his face.

He realized now that he never should have said anything to Connie. Though, it was at least nice to get it off his chest…

* * *

Seven-thirty p.m.

Connie's house in the living room.

"Connie, how can you always afford to throw so many parties?" Eren asked, holding a bottle of Vine in his hand as he sat on the floor. He was the only person who had picked up an entire bottle. Everyone else had just drank multiple glasses of the spiked juice in the kitchen.

"My parents have money. That's all I can say." Connie replied.

"It must be nice to be able to have so much free time." Armin commented, changing the subject slightly.

"Not really. My parents argue more than a little. I'm honestly just glad my mom is over her 'I wanna demolish this house and build a new one' phase. I swear I dreamt that she was sleeping on it as a giant. Dad would never let this house fall, though."

"Your mom a giant? Strange dream..." Mikasa stated.

Jean was a little out of it, almost oblivious that the others were still sitting in the living room, because he'd drank quite a bit of the juice. For a while, he just sat on the couch, looking down at his cup. When he looked up, he was surprised to see that there were a lot of people here.

Connie, of course. Sasha. Mina. Milius. Thomas. Eren. Armin. Mikasa. Dazz. Ymir. Christa. Franz. Hannah. Nic. A few unnamed people that he'd only seen around school were present as well.

However, the person he wanted to see the most was nowhere to be seen: Marco.

Did he go to the bathroom or something?

Jean got up and took his drink with him to find out where he'd gone.

It came as no surprise when he found him sitting outside on the front step. He crept up behind him and slapped him on the back.

Marco turned and stared at Jean with a confused look on his face.

"Too good to enjoy the fun inside?" Jean asked after sitting beside the other.

"I just wanted to watch the stars come out." Marco replied with juice now covering his mouth and chin.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. I drank too much, and now I have a headache, so I couldn't keep listening to the music in there…"

"Connie turned the music down a while ago. Now they're watching Halloweentown."

"Haha really? I love that movie…"

"Marco, are you sure you're okay?"

"Well, I don't usually drink a lot. My head hurts a bit. Today is not Saturday… I need to lay down." Said man replied, and then made to lay down on the concrete.

Jean stopped him, then forced him to stand up. "I'm sure Connie has somewhere you can lay down for a while. C'mon." he insisted. After putting Marco's arm over his shoulder, he led him back inside.

"What's wrong with Marco?" Armin asked when he saw them enter the living room.

Marco blushed when a few people looked over at him and Jean. Attention wasn't something he craved too much, especially not in a situation like this.

"This baka just drank too much." Jean answered. "Connie, you have somewhere he can lay down?"

"Yeah. Take him to my room. Go up the stairs and it'll be the third one on the left."

"Okay. Thanks."

"Don't throw up on my stuff, Marco!" Connie said as the duo headed up the stairs.

Eren stood up and, after nearly falling flat on his face, headed over to the entertainment center under Connie's tv. "Let's watch something scary." He said.

"No, I like this movie!" Sasha objected.

Unintentionally, Eren started a debate about how Halloweentown was scary enough to keep watching, rather than switching to something like The Conjuring, or Chernobyl Diaries, one of the Friday the Thirteenth movies. Someone suggested Cloverfield, but no one wanted to watch it.

…

"There." Jean said as he helped Marco lay down on Connie's bed. His room was oddly in order. At the moment, it was only lit by a dim lamp. "You need anything? Like some coffee, or-"

"Stay with me, Jean." Marco muttered.

"Y-you want me to stay here?"

"Mhmm. I'll feel better if you're here."

Jean took a seat at the foot of the bed near Marco's feet, listening to the voices and laughter of the others that were echoing from the living room.

After about five minutes, he turned and looked to see if Marco had fallen asleep. To his surprise, those brown eyes of his were still open, just staring off into space. When they turned to him, he felt a bit odd. But despite that, he kept his eyes on Marco.

For a while, the two of them stared at each other without saying anything. Some time into staring at the other man, Jean wondered just what it was that had made him dream about him.

He wanted to find out. He wanted to feel those soft lips' caress again. He wanted _Marco_.

Marco's eyebrows flew up his forehead when Jean got closer to him with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Jean…?"

"Marco… I have to be honest with you…" Said man said, and then stopped advancing.

"What?"

"I was there in elementary school… I know what you went through on an almost daily basis because you were different. I can't imagine that got any better growing up and finding out you liked guys instead of girls."

"Y-you were at my elementary school?"

"Yeah. I saw the kids bullying you a few times, and I'm sorry I didn't stick up for you. That's why I've been so insistent on being friends. But I do honestly care about you. I want to stay friends, and I want to keep you from crying ever again."

"Jean-" Marco started, feeling tears welling up in his eyes.

Jean moved closer, but when he got too close, Marco blocked him by putting his knees up.

"Marco… don't… Don't stop me."

"Jean, I-"

"I need to… Please move your legs."

Marco nodded, then opened his legs so Jean could get close to him. He was somewhat surprised when the other took his cheek into his hand.

"I don't care what you grew up thinking… Just know that… you're fucking beautiful, Marco. You're important, smart, sympathetic, and a lot of fun. Perfect in every way, and I'm glad you're part of my life." Jean said, and then closed the space between him and Marco.

Marco opened his lips when he felt Jean's tongue press against them, letting him in to explore to his heart's content. Reaching up, he wrapped his arms around Jean's neck to pull him closer.

Breathing heavily, Jean continued kissing Marco, enjoying it more than he allowed himself to admit. It was thrilling, being close to him like this. The forbidden lust and pleasure that Marco indulged himself in, he wanted it too. He wanted it badly.

Eagerly, he put his hands on either side of the taller man's hips to hold him. This was just like kissing any girl, he noted, only Marco was offering him a little something _extra_. He could feel it through his jeans.

When he felt his belt being undone, Marco reached down and held on to Jean's hand. Pulling away, he buried his nose in the other's neck. "Jean, don't."

"Marco, please let me."

"I've been used before… I don't want that to happen again…"

"I won't use you, Marco. I promise."

"…"

"Do you want me, Marco?" Jean whispered.

"I… I do… more than you know."

"Let me give it to you, then."

"N-no… not now, not here. We both drank too much…"

"What do you want to do, then? We've come this far…"

Marco reached down and slowly undid Jean's belt, then flipped him over so he was on top. The redness of Jean's cheeks, and the longing look on his face told him this wasn't a mistake. He did wonder where Jean's sudden interest in him came from, but didn't question it much.

He'd wanted to do this for a long time.

To his surprise, after pulling his underwear down, he found that Jean was already erect. He wasn't the biggest he'd ever seen, but even so, what he was looking at was all that he'd ever wanted and more. It was Jean, after all.

"Ah…" Jean moaned when Marco took his penis into his warm mouth. He closed his eyes tight and sucked in air through his teeth, loving the feeling of this blowjob. His first instinct was to put his hand on the back of Marco's head, but he didn't because he didn't want to feel like he was forcing him to do anything. He'd never force Marco to do something like this.

When he felt the other's tongue run across the tip, which he already knew was covered in precum, he let out the breath he'd been holding in for a few seconds.

"Marco… You should stop…"

"Mm?" Marco hummed with his lips still wrapped around Jean's penis.

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna cu- haaah…"

Jean couldn't believe Marco as he swallowed his load.

Marco came up and blushed. "There was so much…" he said embarrassedly.

Jean leaned forward and took him by the shoulders. "I'm gonna return the favor." He said.

Marco's eyes went wide and he nearly started glowing red when the other made good on his word by flipping their positions and undoing his pants to start sucking him.

"Jean, you don't have to do that."

Jean released Marco's penis from his mouth and grinned. "I know."

"Mmmh!" Marco moaned, as Jean continued sucking him off. He lifted his hands and put them on the back of Jean's head to run them through his hair, which was just as soft as he imagined it to be.

Jean couldn't deny that this was exciting. He'd never sucked a penis before, but this was much nicer than he expected it to be. Marco fit so perfectly into his mouth, he smelled nice, and the noises he was emitting were so pleasant to listen to.

The next moan he heard, he knew the other had reached his peak. He also felt the hot liquid filling his mouth. It wasn't the best tasting, but it wasn't the worst, either. And he wanted to avoid making a mess, so he swallowed the waves once they entered his mouth.

"Jean, I'm sorry!"

"It's fine." Said man replied as he pulled away from the now limp penis in front of him. "If I didn't want to swallow your cum, I woulda pulled away when I felt the first bit of it on my tongue."

"I hope it didn't taste bad…"

"_You_ hope? That's _my_ line…"

Marco smiled, "Yours tasted fine. I liked it, actually."

"Was it sweet?"

"Surprisingly, no. But it was you, haha."

Jean blushed. "… Marco, I hope this won't… change things between us. I wasn't using you… And I still want to be friends."

"… We can blame it on the alcohol."

"Right." Jean said. Though, he knew it wasn't the alcohol that was making him love that warm smile adorned with red, freckled cheeks Marco was giving him.

At some point, the two of them decided to go to sleep in Connie's room because Jean wasn't sober enough to drive. They slept on the floor, side-by-side, because Connie would surely want to sleep in his bed at the end of the night.


End file.
